


Strawberry Kisses!

by LeftNotRight



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Animal Transformation, Bird, Birds, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Reincarnated as a Bird, Sawada Iemitsu Bashing, Sawada Iemitsu Being an Idiot, Sawada Nana's Trying Her Best, Sawada's Pet, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-04-24 14:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19174987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeftNotRight/pseuds/LeftNotRight
Summary: "Eh! Is this the birdy you were talking about, Tsu-kun?" I paused mid-gulp and looked to the voice, swallowing as I flattened my expression and locked my eyes onto the familiar ball of fluff that was the hair of one Tsunayoshi."Hello, pretty birdy," the boy waved, and I knew I was in trouble.





	1. Chapter 1

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 3,377**

* * *

 

 

Death was an odd experience.

 

Having the water, sour and salty, rushing into my throat and up my nose and I sank, weighed down by the rope tangled in my legs, the blurry, shifting figures of my workmates as they called for aid, called for me, called for my fading awareness...That was an odd experience too.

 

Then came the brief flashes of consciousness that came after. Warmth. Pulsing. Shifting. Not quite comfortable. Ah, much better. Itching. All of which were equally, if not slightly varying in degrees of oddness.

 

After which, I realised I had to hack my way free of my womb.

 

No one told me I had to do it. I just _realised_ I had to.

 

Most of the liquid suspension was gone from my little home, my little cradle, and something in me understood it was time to leave. And so, I twisted and turned until I found hard scratch against hard, reared my head back and broke free from my confines, instantly filling my dark domain with streams of warm air.

 

But, what I must say, was the most startling shock to my system, was the huge, looming smiles of towering humans, and then the subsequent realisation that I, me, myself, was a _mother freaking_ _bird_.

 

* * *

 

Being a bird…is damn boring.

 

Who would have guessed?

 

Perhaps, though, it wasn’t the fault of the fact that I was a now incarnated as a bird, but instead, that I was born a captive bird, hatched almost directly into the observation cage for people to peer and coo at. No, I wasn’t a zoo bird or even a wildlife park bird; I was a pet-store bird, surrounded by animals that were shipped in and out of the doors, with or without families by their sides.

 

Most of my brothers and sisters had been sold already, but I still remained with only a handful of my first companions, the store’s staff warning the patrons of my ‘anti-social’ behaviour. I was known to bite and screech at not only human hands, but the approach of my own species, quick to scare the young ones who scrambled up to me in either attempts to enforce dominance in the cage or comfort - though, if they were after the second, I tended to be gentler in my rejections.

 

It only took the staff three fights and two high-strung males thrown to the floor of the cage to realise that I wasn’t going to be kind to my roommates, and eventually, I earned myself the prize of a much smaller, separate cage that was taller than it was wider. I huffed at them as they carefully gave me grain and pieces of boiled egg from behind a thick glove, but accepted the results, happy that I was at least able to sleep without someone trying to experimentally hop on my back.

 

Yeah, he was one of the males that were rather viciously slammed from the perch to the floor in front of a bunch of screaming children.

 

* * *

  
_Platycercus Elegans_ , more commonly known as Crimson Rosella. That’s what I was, heartwarming, really, that I still had a piece of my home with me.

 

‘Exotic’, they called here us, in this pet store, Japanese folk not used to our colourisation and shrill call. I had burst out from my grey and fleshy chick form, and had gained feathers of red, blue and black that startled the people in the store; staff always happy to show off their little _‘Queenie’_. And show me off they did, but only until the glamour faded, my inactivity causing children to grow bored and run off the main cage where my fellow birds flapped and chattered, dogs bounced and cats groomed, fish swam in schools and mice scrambled.

 

There were more attractions in this store than my ‘grumpy’ self, more interactive pets to take home and tug at their fur until they finally turned around and bite you. I enjoyed it though, my solitude. It allowed me to think, to hang on my rocking perch and sway absently, watching the staff interact with people as they came up the register with questions on their lips and money in their hands.

 

“What about this one?” a woman asked, pointing at me, the teenager following her finger until she saw my form.

 

“Oh, this is Queenie,” the girl answered, “She’s an Australian Crimson Rosella.”

 

I had learnt this language in a slow, painful process that relied almost entirely on the sponge-like attribute of a growing chick’s mind and the scatterings of English that covered the place, and even then, only the basics were translatable. So it allowed me to know of the sign that specifically said: _Do Not Touch!_ below my cage, warning people against doing exactly as she was attempting.

 

“Really?” the woman hummed, eyeing me. “May I hold her?”

 

“I’m sorry, Queenie’s pretty independent, she doesn’t like to be touched.”

 

“I have quite a few birds,” she pushed, puffing up her chest in self-promotion. “I’m sure she’ll like me, I know how to calm them.”

 

“I’m really sorry, miss, you can’t- Miss, miss!”

 

My eyes widened as the lady reached for my latch, her smile smug as she invaded my home with fleshy fingers and made a rough grab for me. In an instant, I knew this woman had never held a bird before, never _properly_. She was trying to wrap her fingers around my wings and bend my legs into her palm; she didn’t get how I bent at all and was just trying to get a handful.

 

I screeched and flapped, the edges of my wings brushing my cage as I tried to get the absolute hell out of there, the shouts of my kinsmen ascending as they listened to their own panic. My flapping became frantic as I hit the top of my cage, and her hand wrapped around me awkwardly, fingers digging into the flesh under my wings as she tried to pull me out.

 

Thrashing about, I released a shrill shriek that made children cover their ears before sinking my beak into her hand, hacking at it like I did my egg, only ceasing when she shook me off in a fright, letting me flee to the opposite side of the cage and cling to the bars as I hissed and squawked at the woman.

 

The bloody lady was quickly grabbed and pulled from my cage, the teenage employee gently pushing her back and calling for the manager to lead her out of the store, telling her she wasn’t welcome back.

 

“I’m so sorry, Queenie,” the girl cooed, closing my cage quickly and trying to soothe my rattled state. “I’m sorry, it’s fine now, calm down.”

 

I heaved and looked at the girl, seeing her apologetic expression as she surveyed the state of my cage, food and water bowls upturned and making a mess on the floor from the fight. She didn’t reach in to fix it, however, an act of kindness and thought on her part as she let me settle.

 

I looked to the cage which held my kin, seeing how they huddled on the side nearest to me, hanging from all the free spaces to try to get a good look at me, to check me over from the distance, young ones squealing in worry.

 

I wanted to go back to the big cage. Only for a little while.

 

* * *

 

It was another quiet day; the weekdays being slower without the children bustling in and out. A few more minutes would remedy that, however, with children being dragged along by their parents sure to burst in at a nearing time.

 

I made a small call, and settled down in my cage, softly grooming my wings in an absent manner, stretching and humming a nonsensical tune. It was best to get it out of the way before the children came, the less movement I made, the less likely they’d stay to try to poke between the bars.

 

With a final ruffle, I was pleased with my bath and tucked myself in for a long sitting session, eyeing the clock as the first squeal of a child came into the store. Closing my eyes, I listened to the children come and go, become distracted, chase things around before racing out of the store. It was repetitive and achingly boring, leaving me near the edge of dozing - until I felt, a continuous, probing gaze.

 

That wasn’t unusual, so I ignored it, continuing to play oblivious to the watchful eyes, waiting for them to walk away.

 

They stayed.

 

They stayed for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, and I wondered where this kid’s parents were. They didn’t speak, and they didn’t poke. They didn’t scream for some sort of action or demand for me to parrot a bloody _‘Polly want a cracka’?!’_. They simply stood in my silence with me.

 

“U-um...” the child started, making me internally groan at the loss. “You’re...You’re really pretty.”

 

This made me open my eyes, because not once since I had come here, had any of the customers actually talked to _me._ Slowly, I turned my gaze down on the child, pausing when I found him to be rather on the small side, big brown eyes looking up at me unsurely, but in awe.

 

I know I am.

 

“Oh! You can hear m-me,” he stuttered, taking a cautious step back.

 

Yes, I can, I’m not deaf.

 

“Uh...I-I...My name’s Tsunayoshi...You can call me Tsuna,” he offered gently, opening himself a little from his curl, hands loosening from their clench at his chest.

 

_“Haha! Look at the No-Good Tsuna! He’s talking to the bird!”_

 

_“Hey, No-Good! Birds don’t speak Japanese! They’re too dumb!”_

 

My wing twitched. You- You wanna run that one past me again, mate?

 

“That’s...” Tsuna began, before fading off as two girls and boy come up to him, all easily bigger than him.

 

“They don’t talk, dummy!” the boy spat, crossing his arms.

 

“Yeah! Stupid!”

 

“No-Good Tsuna doesn’t get it, he’s too slow!”

 

I looked down on the obvious bullying and scanned the room, wondering where the frick a responsible adult was in this mess. The way the small boy whimpered back spoke of previous encounters, and the matching uniforms showed a common school, making me twitch as I scanned the boy over again. There was dirt clinging to his knees and a bruise on his elbow, meaning he was either unfortunately clumsy or there were darker forces at play - perhaps a rather distasteful mixture of both.

 

My musings were pulled from me when I saw a girl raise her hand, a smug smirk on her face.

 

“You can’t hit a girl, so there’s nothing you can do about it!” she snickered, before bringing her hand down.

 

I shrieked and made them scream, their childish fear making them jump and whip around. Flapping my wings and shaking my cage, I alerted the staff to a dissatisfied Rosella, making them spin around and run over to placate me, effectively making the children scramble.

 

Noisy little buggers.

 

Huffing in annoyance, I waved off the cooed questions and settled down for them, puffing my body in a manner that made them roll their eyes in an almost fond manner. Taking a quick drink, I soothed my throat from the chaos and nibbled at the tip of my wings in content, once again returning to my perching before those children had flocked.

 

“Thank you...”

 

Oh God, it’s not gone.

 

Looking over my shoulder, I gave him a look that suggested he scram, but he only continued to step closer.

 

“Um, thank you for...For helping me,” he muttered, a hand coming up to cover his lips behind a curled fist.

 

Great. Glad I could help. Now leave.

 

“Not many...No one really helps me. They usually just tell me to stand up for myself.”

 

No. No, no, no, no, no, I am not your therapy bird. Shoo. Go away, fleshy creature.

 

“I try to, it’s just...It doesn’t seem to work and I just get beat up more,” Tsuna whimpered, fiddling with the edge of his shirt.

 

I peered down at him, refusing to let the child lure me into his trap of feelings and emotions, stubbornly keeping my expression as birdy blank as I could manage. He thinned his lips awkwardly and prodded his fingertips together, giving a tiny, pathetic laugh.

 

“U-uh, I guess you don’t really care, huh?” he sniffed, backing away a step. “I’ll leave you alone now, then...Bye-bye, pretty birdy.”

 

I watched him trudge away in a dejected fashion, looking like he was used to it, but like it didn’t hurt any less.

 

* * *

 

“Eh! Is this the birdy you were talking about, Tsu-kun?”

 

I paused mid-gulp and looked to the voice, swallowing as I flattened my expression and locked my eyes onto the familiar ball of fluff that was the hair of one Tsunayoshi.

 

“Hello, pretty birdy,” the boy waved, and I knew I was in trouble.

 

* * *

 

As soon as they opened my box, I launched myself into the cage and refused to exit it. Hissing at Sawada Nana as she slowly closed the gate and stepped back, off to find a cloth to cover my cage in.

 

They had bought me. Even after the cashier warned them about children and birds. Even after they were informed of my antics and anti-social behaviours. They still bought me.

 

They baffled me.

 

I huffed and dropped from the roof of the bars to land on the rocking perch, watching the woman as she covered my cage with the cloth, narrowing my eyes when she smiled softly at me.

 

“Don’t worry, we won’t touch you until you’re ready.” She cooed, before enshrouding me.

 

**. . .**

 

I stumbled around my new cage, getting used to the knick-knacks they had decorated it with, bells and mirrors, chew bars and colourful cloth plats. At the very least, they were taking me seriously.

 

It was dark; the night had long fallen and the small fleshy sent to bed as Nana sat in the living room with some sort of historical drama playing on the television. Bored, and with nothing else to do, I hopped over to the far corner and tried to watch, making a tweet of aggravation when the wall blocked my view.

 

The sound made the woman pause and glance over, her eyes widening when she saw me active.

 

“Haha, I thought you were meant to be asleep now?” she giggled, walking over and lifting the shroud gently. “What’s wrong? Do you want more food?”

 

Huffing at her, I jumped onto the bars and surveyed my gate, making mental notes of how it turned, before hooking my beak into the curl and yanking it free, letting the door swing open. The woman gasped but made no move to stop me as I crawled up the face of the cage, eyeing her as she offered her arm.

 

“Do you want to?” Nana asked softly, not so much as flinching when I suddenly launched myself from the cage and swooped by her.

 

Whirling around the wall, I flapped my wings until I landed down on the couch arm, giving the room a good look over before deeming it safe enough. Nana walked back in carefully, as if not to spook me, and blinked when she found me pecking at the remote, furiously trying to turn up the volume.

 

“I can do that for you.” She breathed, slowly taking the controller and upping the audio.

 

I eyed her, before bouncing off to the far side of the couch and dragging a pillow down from its angular perch, jumping up and settling into the soft centre.

 

Nana gazed at me for a moment, before smiling and sitting down on the other side of the couch, resuming her quiet knitting as we watched the scenes that flashed across the screen.

 

“It’s odd,” she breathed as a break came to the show. “I’m so used to sitting here alone.”

 

I glanced to her, watching how she fiddled with short cut hair, a kind of solemn sadness on her young face.

 

Sawada Nana was no beauty queen, in fact, she was rather plain, but she just carried this air, that made people want to be close to her. This whole time, I had been fighting the urge to just settle for this woman, to become complacent, but whenever I found myself calming, I warned myself against it.

 

“My husband is usually away on business, so I rarely get to see him. He’s a miner, always on adventures, you see,” she hummed, looking to the ring on her hand. “It makes me miss him. He never gets to see Tsu-kun grow up.”

 

I gazed at her a moment, twisting my vision as I registered this information and shifted my eyes to the door leading to the stairs.

 

She’s got to be one woman army for that kid, huh…

 

“Ooh, the show’s back,” she suddenly perked, making me jump. “Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

 

Huffing, I burrowed further into the cushion and watched the sword fight, getting another soft apology from the woman.

 

* * *

 

“Tsu-kun! Time to wake up!” Nana called, before pouting as no reaction came. “Strawberry, could you wake him up for me, please?”

 

I looked up from my station and huffed, puffing myself up in annoyance as the woman laughed. Whistling a tune, I flapped my wings until I was airborne, fluttering over to the sink until I could drop a dirty cup into the water.

 

“Thank you, Strawberry.”

 

Strawberry. That was my new name. You wanna know why? ‘Cause I was red and cause Tsuna got naming rights.

 

Freaking lazy dimwit.

 

It had been nearly a year since they had brought me into the Sawada family, and I had found them to be just as chaotic as I had expected, but not as bad as I had expected. Sure, Tsuna’s almost slammed a door on me a few times, and Nana uses me as a teddy when a character dies in her dramas, but they had grown on me. Like a fungus, almost. You can never quite get rid of them without using the chemical that took more effort than deserved.

 

The practically single mother pressed her hands together in a prayer motion and smiled at me from behind them, a hopeful noise escaping her when I gave her the flattest expression I could manage with my face.

 

“Please?”

 

Ruffling my feathers one last time at the woman just to convey the extent of my displeasure at her, I took off to swoop up the stairs. Coming to a stop before the young boy’s door, I landed on the floor and hopped forwards, pushing the door open easily with the child-locks in place, allowing it to swing open. Fluttering up onto the top of the boy’s wardrobe, I tweeted a note of exasperation at the sleeping boy.

 

Tsuna was nearing the end of his Elementary school life and had yet to perfect the art of actually waking up.

 

Come along, small fleshy, time to get up.

 

Taking a deep breath, I opened my beak and shrieked the highest tone I could manage, making the young boy jump and tumble out of bed.

 

“Wh- Strawberry!” he whined, sitting up from the floor as he rubbed the back of his head. “Can’t you get me up normally?”

 

I tweeted before flapping over to his little clock, relishing in the shriek of fear he released when he saw the red number. Kekering at his dismay, I jumped up onto his head and nestled in place as he ran around the room, fluff keeping me happy and comfortable even amongst the chaos.

 

“Mama! Why didn’t you wake me up!?” Tsuna cried, running into the kitchen to grab his lunch.

 

“What’s the rush?” Nana asked as I hopped off her son’s head and bounced over to my own breakfast, nibbling the boiled pieces from her palm. “You have another hour.”

 

“H-huh?” he spluttered, gaping at his mother and I, before suddenly sobering and sticking me with a look. “You did it again!”

 

I peered at him and tilted my head.

 

 _“Strawberry~!”_ I sang innocently, eyes gleaming with mischief.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 2,213**

* * *

 

 

Nana giggled at her son as he ploughed through his breakfast, small body able to take in a fearsome amount when given the time. She didn’t seem to experience the same disgust I felt while watching him stuff his face, a whistle of reprimand leaving me as I perched on the chair back beside the mother.

 

Little fleshy, stop that.

 

Tsuna paused his piggery and glanced at me, pouting when he saw my flat expression.

 

“Strawberry, don’t look at me like that!” he whined, cleaning off his mouth.

 

I hissed at him and hopped onto the table, bouncing over to Nana’s hand to nestle next to it, cooing as she pet at my feathers, combing them backwards softly. Closing my eyes, I listened to Tsuna scoff about favourites, a small chirp leaving me that clarified that, yes, Nana was my favourite.

 

The boy pouted around his utensils before standing up and putting his dishes in the sink. He glanced to the clock and announced that he should start leaving if he wanted to get to school on time.

 

Nana urged me onto her shoulder before walking over to the door, cooing at her offspring as she ran her hand through his hair.

 

“Be good at school, okay?” she hummed, getting a giggle from the boy.

 

“Yes, Mama.”

 

Tsuna huffed as she kissed quickly him, the parental affection making his cheeks a soft pink.

 

Nana giggled softly and pet his hair, before holding her arm out expectantly.

 

“Go one Strawberry,” she urged. “Come on, Tsu-kun.”

 

“Strawberry~!” Tsuna whistled, making me huff. “Strawberry~!”

 

I fluffed myself but hopped down the outstretched arm, holding onto the mother’s hand as I leant forwards and chirped the response.

 

_ “Strawberry~!”  _ I sung, before pressing my beak to his lips, making a kissy noise before pulling back.

 

There, affection.

 

Tsuna giggled before waving and running out the door, his mother gently closing it behind him.

 

Nana locked the door before turning to me with a smile, a soft coo letting me push off her elbow and fly over to the back sliding door. I bounced on the handle as the woman walked over with a fond laugh, her words warning as she reminded me not to fly off and to ring the bell when I wanted to come back in. Tweeting a positive, I flapped and tread air as she pulled the door aside and let me out, warm air wafting over me in an instant as a breeze came through.

 

Flapping my wings, I made my way to a high perch in the yard's tree, making a noise of satisfaction as I surveyed my kingdom of uniform houses. Settling down on the thick branch, I began grooming out my feathers, their grain not sitting quite right. Giving a quiet mutter, I curled on myself and nestled down happily, enjoying the warm climate.

 

_ “Hey, lookie there!” _

 

I beg your bloody pardon?

 

Lifting my head, I glanced around in confusion, before squawking and tumbling backwards as a huge black mass dropped down in front of me. The figure stumbled as well, their wings flapping clumsily, awkward laughter escaping them as they set their feathers back, my glare obvious as I rocked on my back, wings spread across the branch to stop myself from falling.

 

“Sorry! Sorry!” the crow laughed, cawing as I flipped myself back onto my feet with a grunt.

 

“Ugh, what are you doing?” I hissed, straightening feathers that had been distilled.

 

He bounced and turned his head to eye me in interest, looking at my lower form up and down, making me bristle in dislike.

 

“You’re not from around here, are you? I’ve never seen one of your kind before.”

 

“This is my garden, mate,” I scoffed, “I can’t say I’ve seen you around either.”

 

“First time flying!” he pronounced, holding his head up high. “Kinda the reason I nearly took you out just then.”

 

“Mm,” I cawed softly, before jumping off the branch and gliding down to the deck, happily finding a food and water bowl left out for me, little sparrows making way for me easily.

 

“Hey, wait up!” the crow called, before crash landing against the wooden panelling, sending the sparrows and the seed bowl flying. “Meant to do that.”

 

“Of course,” I murmured, half gargling the response into my drink. “Who are you anyway?”

 

“Uh...” he started, awkwardly getting to his feet, flipping the seed bowl off his back as he did, summoning forth the sparrows again. “This human lady calls me Tori.”

 

Tori...How creative.

 

“She calls you bird,” I crooned, watching a rather small sparrow hop over to take a drink.

 

“What do the humans call you?” Tori asked, bouncing over to get right up near me, obviously never having learnt about personal space.

 

“My fleshies call me Strawberry.”

 

“Strawberry?” he repeated tilting his head.

 

_ “Strawberry~!”  _ I whistled.

 

“Oh, my feathers! You can speak human!”

 

I reared my head back into my body as the crow scrambled up to me, black beady eyes wide as they gaped down at me, beak fallen open as his wings flapped in excitement.

 

“I’ve never met someone that can speak human!” Tori squawked, bouncing on the spot. “Say something else!”

 

“Um... _ What’re ya doin’~?! _ ”

 

“Wow!”

 

I backed up as he flapped enough to lift himself slightly, obviously giddy with his new discovery.

 

“Strawberry!”

 

My head snapped up, and I bounced as the Sawada matron opened the door with a basketful of laundry, her eyes wide with startle as she took in the dark ave beside me.

 

“Oh, dear!” she yelped, backing off quickly as the crow rounded on her.

 

Flapping my wings, I lifted off the ground and landed softly on her shoulder, a quiet coo and caw working to calm the woman down, muscles loosening under my talons as I continued to groom at her hair. Gently tugging at her earrings, I ruffled my feathers before settling down, her dainty little fingers rising to softly pet at the red of my breast.

 

“Is this your new friend?” Nana asked, looking at the crow as he eyed her with a side on head.

 

I stood for a moment, before rotating myself so that I faced away from the ave, pointedly looking in the other direction. Tori gave a squawk of indignation, wings slapping audibly as he tried to get my attention back, but I stubbornly groomed at my own colours.

 

“Haha! She doesn’t mean it,” Nana assured the young crow, waving her hand. “She’s always been a bit of a primadonna.”

 

I huffed loudly before jumping off her shoulder and soaring to the clothesline, allowing myself to hang upside down and watch as the woman made a bit of an arc around the pitch black bird before joining me. Hissing at Nana in a huffy manner, I ran up and down the line, bringing back brightly coloured pegs for the woman, before pausing, and staring blankly as Tori scampered past me, three blue pegs in his beak.

 

“Aw! Thank you!” she laughed carefully taking the dropped items. “Strawberry, you have such a nice boyfriend!”

 

The peg in my beak dropped onto the grass.

 

I beg your pardon? You...You wanna run that one by me again?

 

Tori cocked his head at me innocently.

 

I pushed him off the clothesline.

 

* * *

 

It was a weekend morning, and I was just chilling out on my giant panda pillow, minding my own business while I watched some weird kid anime with Tsuna splayed out on the carpet in front of the television. It was pretty peaceful, the sounds of 1990s anime mecha explosions only so loud with a forcibly lowered volume - and then Nana came in to ruin it all.

 

“Tsu-kun, we’ve gotta take Strawberry to the vet.”

 

I looked up from grooming my wing.

 

Nope.

 

Taking off, I swooped between the mother’s hands and streaked up the stairs, flinging myself into the bathroom and flapping until the door was shut, gnawing at the lock with my beak until it finally turned and kept the little fleshy out as he pawed at the other side with a whine.

 

“Strawberry! C’mon, Mama says we gotta go!”

 

You try getting grabbed by the back of your neck so that they can prod you!

 

I huffed and perched myself on the shower head, stubbornly ignoring the pleas of the fleshy.

 

“Fine, I’ll try and get Mama to cancel. You gotta let me in though afterwards!” he shouted before his footsteps faded down the hall.

 

**. . .**

 

Tsuna, you are a traitor.

 

The young boy had the sense to look guilty as he fiddled with his fingers, feeling me stare at him from behind the bars of my carrier cage, refusing to look away even when he squeaked apologies. An angry hiss was my chosen response for whenever someone tried to talk to me, Nana sighing at my nature as her son shuffled behind.

 

“Come on, Strawberry, it’s just a vet visit,” she chided, setting me down beside her as we came to the reception room. “It’s just to make sure you’re healthy.”

 

I whistled angrily before turning my back to her, looking into the dark of my carrier.

 

“They’re here!”

 

I groaned as the familiar sound of the vet rung out, her voice chipper with impending domesticated animals.

 

The veterinarian giggled as she peered into my cage, long brown hair still clinging to her glasses from the near dead sprint she had taken to get to the reception. You’d think that a person would get used to seeing animals every day when poking them with needles was their job, but no, this weird lady never seemed to get any less excited about a critter big or small.

 

“Heya Strawberry! It’s me! Your vet, Amanda!” she cooed trying to get my attention.

 

My eye twitched, and I ruffled my feathers.

 

“Aw, you’re always so grumpy when you come to visit me!”

 

It had struck me as odd at first, that a lady in Namimori of all places was called ‘Amanda’, a Western name, but in her ramblings with Nana, I had gotten the basics of her American origins and childhood.

 

“Hmph,” the lady vet huffed before standing straight and looking to my fleshies. “Well, let’s get her into the office and check her out. Is there any specific reason for today’s appointment?”

 

I clutched the beam in the cage as Nana lifted me from the floor, Tsuna watching me from behind her skirt as we walked on in.

 

“She’s made a friend with a wild bird recently and I just want to make sure she hasn’t got any ticks or illnesses, it’d break my heart if she got anything bad,” the mother explained settling my cage down on the linoleum tabletop.

 

Ugh, no! Don’t make me feel guilty for resisting!

 

I cawed in aggravation as the Sawada woman looked at me with soft eyes, making me throw my head back in rebellion.

 

“If Strawberry got sick, I’d be really sad!” Tsuna agreed, a shine coming to his eyes at the thought alone.

 

_ Noooooooooooooooooo! _

 

The vet unlatched my cage, and I hopped out with a grunt of reluctance, before bouncing over to the towering fleshies with a flat expression. The tiny one sniffed, and I deflated, before fluffing myself and flexing my larynx, creating a familiar tune.

 

Tsuna’s eyes lit up as the  _ Addam’s Family _ theme bounced out of my beak, talons tapping against the table as I jumped to create the snaps. He giggled as I jumped again, making pathetic little attempts at clicking his fingers, the soundless ‘shwip’ of skin on skin being the only result, but the little fleshie tried his damnedest, anyway.

 

Nana squealed and brought me up for strawberry kisses, whistling my name as I tugged on her hair.

 

Damn you both.

 

Amanda aw-ed loudly and snapped pictures on her phone for the growing collage of her patients on her reception wall.

 

And damn you too.

 

* * *

 

My chirps echoed in the bathroom as I perched on the edge of the sink, eyeing Tsuna as he splashed in the bath. While I had spent a lot of my own time around water much deeper than the near 15cm high depths of the tub, I still had my reservations about having Tsuna near a body of water any larger than a drinking cup.

 

Drowning had struck a chord in me, a sharp one, and while I may have been able to once dive in without regard before the water that lapped at the porcelain sides were a bit of a dig to the ribs.

 

It made me...stress when Tsuna was in water, and Nana’s seemingly apathetic opinion of the situation didn’t help. So I had taken it upon myself, the grievous duty, of watching the little skin creature as he created currents and whirlpools. At times like this, I almost wished I was human again, then I might just have shown the kid how to squirt water from your palms.

 

Instead, I ruffle my feathers and cawed softly, pointlessly asking if he was done yet.

 

The fleshy glanced at me and smiled, waving his hands, covered in soapsuds and water.

 

I twitched as a stray drop plopped against my head.

 

Stop that fleshy.   
  



	3. Chapter 3

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 1,638**

* * *

 

 

“No!”

 

I looked up from my grain and honey with a miffed expression, seeds clinging to my beak as I watched Nana bawl over the ‘death’ of the heroine’s love interest/secret twin brother.

 

“Hiroshi-kun can’t die! Tomoe-chan hasn’t told him she was pregnant!”

 

Ugh.

 

Rolling my eyes, I shoved my face back into my bowl, happily gorging myself on the sweetened stuff, catering to my sweet-beak. I was halfway through crunching a sunflower seed when the woman grabbed me up and smooshed me into her bosom, a tissue pressed to her eyes as she mourned.

 

After flapping fruitlessly and squawking for vengeance and freedom, I groaned and slumped, softly cawing my final words as I suffocated in the fleshy’s embrace. She sniffed loudly before petting along my nape, making the experience a little better - but like still, no amount of shiver-inducing combing will make nearly suffocating in a woman’s boobs better.

 

…

 

Shush, all of you.

 

* * *

 

My feet wrapped around the cold metal of the hanging lights as I swung leisurely, a soft cooing coming from my syrinx as I watched Tsuna slave over maths.

 

Ha. I don’t need to do that bullshit anymore.

 

“Strawberry!” He whined, slumping in the dining table chair to looking up at me. “Help me!”

 

I tilted my head, sending him a flat expression.

 

You’re asking a bird for help. With maths.

 

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

 

“Please!” He pouted, eyes watering - perhaps from looking at the light for so long.

 

I gazed down at him for a few more seconds, calculating the pros and cons.

 

“I’ll give you honey.”

 

I hit the dining table and took up an eraser in my beak, hopping across the tabletop, talons tapping as I made my way, shoving it into his hand before directing him to erase incorrect answered - the entire page. Nodding once the page was blank, I bounced around and took off from the ledge of the table, swiping around corners until I came to the ‘computer room’ and thumped down on the keyboard.

 

Tsuna followed quickly, nearly slipping in his haste, before jumping up into the spinny chair, watching as I pecked furiously at the keyboard, typing at an excruciatingly slow pace in the browser’s search bar.

 

Looking up once I was done, I made a noise of confirmation and stepped on ‘Enter’ with a never-ending satisfaction. The screen buffered for a moment, before a timetables chart, both blank and completed appeared. Looking over them quickly, I turned to the fluffy fleshy and made him choose one.

 

Fleshy grimaced but eventually pointed to one with an aquatic theme. I nodded and bounced on the print button a whole of ten times, sheets coming out and assaulting the boy’s face with knowledge. He spluttered and waved his arms but eventually caught the sheets, pouting as he rubbed his nose. Chirping in sadistic amusement, I closed the browser and launched myself from the desk, the child following me before we once again ended at the dining room table.

 

Nana glanced up from the half-completed process of dinner, smiled at us, before continuing on. I cawed at her and she hummed in response, waving over her shoulder as Tsuna clambered up onto the chair again.

 

Turning back to the tiny fleshy, I whistled to get his attention, before hopping along the one times line, urging him to start. He followed my demands and began to write it all the way to ‘one times twelve’, knowing that at least.

 

_ “Good job~!” _ I chirped, getting a giggle from the boy.

 

He began to write in the two times, pausing now and again, but for the most part, working his way. Then came the three times.

 

I sighed and urged him to do the easy ones, jumping insistently on the fours, fives, tens and elevens. This made him gain a bit of his courage back, especially when he managed to figure out eleven times eleven, though after much blank staring and hair ruffling.

 

Settling myself down on the table, I watched patiently - for the most part, and busied myself with grooming my wing, nibbling at the tips of my feathers.

 

Nana came over and gave us both a drink, petting the top of my head with her finger as she pulled out a chair and sat with us, cooing her congratulations at Tsuna’s progress. Her nails scratched at his scalp softly and the young fleshy all but purred at the touch, making me huff in amusement.

 

* * *

 

_ Tap! Tap! Tap! _

 

“Hey! Hey, Strawberry!”

 

I flicked my tail feathers slightly and remained perched on the top of the cabinet, watching over Tsuna as he napped on the couch, tiny body curled up into a little ball of fluff and flesh.

 

_ Tap! Tap! _

 

“Strawberry! Come look at this!”

 

The fleshy twitched but remained undisturbed.

 

_ Tap! Tap! Tap! _

 

“Please!?”

 

_ Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap- _

 

“It says ‘Mcdonalds’ you darned woodpecker!” I squalled, spreading my wings and puffing up my body, snapping my head to Tori.

 

He blinked his beady eyes at me, bright yellow wrapper hanging from his beak.

 

“Really? So cool!” The crow cawed in delight, before sticking his head God knows where and pulling out another piece of junk. “What’s this say!?”

 

I threw my head back in disbelief.

 

_ Tap! Tap! Tap! _

 

“Strawberry, please!?”

 

“Go away!”

 

* * *

 

Nana hummed as she sat down at the dining table, sipping at milk tea as she sorted through the morning’s mail.

 

Tsuna was already at school, so I had no real entertainment, his absence giving me no one to truly pester or torment. I sighed and dropped from the hanging lights, thunking down on the tabletop and slapping my feet against it as I made my way over to the mother with exaggerated steps.

 

She giggled when she saw my weird movements, before returning to the letters, leaving me to nestle up to the warmth of the cup.

 

We sat in silence, Nana sorting bills, expenses and advertisements while I sorted through my already flawless feathers. I was content to sit like this, leeching the warmth from her tea as I lazed in a patch of sunshine.

 

It was the sniffled that made my scramble to my feet. And it was the tearing of Nana’s eyes that made me squawk loudly, making her rip her gaze from whatever had made her distressed. I fluttered over and nabbed the little card from her hands, tossing it onto the table so I could shriek at the written offence.

 

But what I instead found, was the picture of a grinning blond man, and a sheepish, none to very apologetic excuse and a postponal.

 

_ ‘Sorry, Nana-chan, I’ll have to cancel coming home this month! Business just got busier, so they’re going to need all the help they can get. I promise to come soon though! _

 

_ With all my love, _

_ Iemitsu.’ _

 

I stared. And stared. Before shrieking a pitch that made the teary woman flinch and bounding forwards to jump on the stupid man’s printed face angrily.

 

I had been in this family for a little more than a year, and not once, other than this letter had I seen or heard from this supposed husband and father. Not once had we heard from him, and this was the first contact for more than a year!

 

Nana didn’t even have the heart to stop me ruining the picture, her hand covering her mouth to smother her quiet hiccups.

 

I dashed over and tried to calm her, spreading my wings to show off my colours, something she usually loved, but she was too busy wiping her eyes to notice.

 

God damn it, God damn it.

 

 

Looking around in a panic, I launched myself off the table and swooping into the kitchen. Not caring how I knocked over the paper towel roll, I pushed the pantry door open and bodily knocked the honey bottle over so that it laid on its side. Flapping my wings wildly, I dragged the drawers open and snagged a tablespoon, before positioning it beneath the honey nozzle and slamming my weight down on the bottle.

 

I watched keenly until the spoon was filled with the thick sweetness and grabbed it up before taking off again. Flapping my wings hastily, I set the spoon down with a kind of hesitance before Nana’s bundled hands, tissues clutched in her fists.

 

She didn’t seem to notice, quietly dabbing at her cheeks in a refined manner, trying to gather her wits.

 

I watched her worriedly, before whistling a soft tune and bumping the spoon with my beak, making it clatter against the table, and finally catch the mother’s attention.

 

Nana blinked and looked between me and the honey spoon before her eyes softened and she deflated in a kind of helplessness.

 

“Oh, Strawberry...Did you get this for me?” She asked, taking up the sweetness. “Is it because you love honey that you thought it would make me feel better too?”

 

I cooed gently and clambered up to perch on her shoulder, making clicking noises into her ear and tugging at her hair affectionately as she ate the honey slowly, the occasional tear bubbling up. Cuddling up to her, I made kissy noises as I pushed my beak against her tear tacky cheek.

 

“Strawberry~!” She croaked after a moment, turning her head to show me salt reddened eyes. “Strawberry~!”

 

Quickly pressing my beak against her lips, I let her stain my feathers, quietly crooning a song I had heard on the radio that she had danced around the kitchen to.

 

I didn’t mind how my perch shook, nor did I fault her.

 

Sawada Iemitsu.

 

I gazed down on the tarnished picture and the half-hearted apology quickly scrawled on what might as well have been a cafe napkin.

 

You are not welcome to my nest.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**I found a channel on YouTube called** ‘ **Birb Memes’, that gives Strawberry life.**

* * *

 ! **Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

**Word Count: 1,553**

* * *

 

 

“Strawberry! Strawberry, no!” Nana exclaimed, chasing after me as I hopped along the cabinet, examining each photo of the family and kicking off each one that held the form of Iemitsu.

 

“I think she’s angry,” Tsuna commented from below, padding after me, stepping around the frames carefully.

 

I stopped at another picture and eyed it critically, looking each figure up and down, before huffing when I saw no Iemitsu, and only Tsuna in a fish onesie. Nodding slowly, but still suspicious, I move on, before smacking a frame to the floor, the thing thudding onto carpet harmlessly, but enough to settle some of the inner fury.

 

Screw you.

 

Screw you.

 

Screw you.

 

This is of Nana, this can stay.

 

Screw you.

 

Screw you too.

 

This picture is of me. Why isn’t this on a mantlepiece?

 

I turned to the frantic woman who was salvaging the pictures, none were broken, I wasn’t that horrible - much - so she went about setting them exactly back from where I had knocked them.

 

Fleshy, make this be on the mantelpiece.

 

* * *

 

I had been grounded.

 

My body was puffed up in petty defiance as I sat in my cage, a little diary padlock snapped in place around the latch of my door, put in place by the miffed and tutting mother as she scolded me gently.

 

“Strawberry, you can’t knock off the pictures of Iemitsu-kun, they’re important.”

 

I squawked and looked away, stubbornly sinking my head into my breast to ignore her.

 

“Strawberry,” she sighed, trying to get my attention by softly tapping on the bars.

 

I huffed and climbed the white-painted ladder into a nest of trinkets, dumping myself into it in a dramatic huff, kicking a bell out as a sign for the woman to leave me be.

 

Nana stopped tapping after a moment and moved away, the sounds of the kitchen telling me she had begun to sulk-cook.

 

I’m the one who should be sulking, woman!

 

My cage rattled slightly, and I looked over with a flat expression as Tsuna blinked up at me, a spoon hanging from his mouth. He glanced to the lock, and then to me, before deflating, as if losing his confidence.

 

“Why were you knocking tou-san’s photos off?” he asked quietly.

 

I paused, and bounce down the ladder to come beak to nose with the little fleshy,  before fixing my syrinx and hissing a human word softly.

 

_“Bad.”_

 

Tsuna’s eyes flashed for a moment, making me tilt my head in question. He copied the action, and the light of the afternoon shone, and I swore his big brown eyes shone the same orange.

 

* * *

 

Nana had a strange, innate ability to almost completely wipe any and all bad memory from her mind, and I wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse as she cuddled me to her chest, once again sobbing, but this time for the return of the love interest/secret twin brother in her drama.

 

“He’s back!” she cried, listening to the string orchestra playing some dramatic music as they embraced.

 

I cawed pathetically as she bawled, stuffing her eyes with tissues, my once impeccable feather bunched in her fingers as she clung like some discomforted child. My half-hearted resistance was ignored for another round of loud wailing, and I huffed, tugging at her hair weakly.

 

“Comfort me!” she whined, pressing a kiss to my temple, making me snap at her harmlessly. “Love me!”

 

I narrowed my eyes flatly, before looking away.

 

Nana huffed and pouted, before kissing the top of my head, making me squawk in surprise and flap my wings in indignation.

 

How dare ye! Sneaking up upon a maiden!

 

“I love you~!” she giggled, tapping my beak and making me blink in startle.

 

I scrunched my face and cawed in annoyance, before begrudgingly pressing my beak to her cheek with a loud _“mwah!”_

 

“Thank you, lovely,” Nana cooed, cuddling me as I grumbled over her shoulder.

 

God damn it, let me be grumpy, woman.

 

* * *

 

What?

 

I bounced forwards.

 

What?

 

Tsuna stared down at me with wide eyes.

 

What is that?

 

The little fleshy shuffled a bit and made to hide the bruise on his cheek, covering it with his hand as I continued to stare at him blatantly. Big brown eyes looked away, self-conscious and guilty, knowing he had been caught.

 

I bounced forwards again until we were talon to toe, and he looked down at me with a kind of hurt that made me ruffle my feathers. Flapping my wings, I propelled myself until I was perched upon his shoulder, eyeing the bruise with an angry, sympathetic hiss.

 

_“Bad~!”_ I whistled, before squawking in outrage when I saw the underlying cut.

 

“It was a stick,” Tsuna muttered, looking to the floor.

 

_“Tell the truth,”_ I demanded slowly, holding on as he toed off his shoes.

 

Teary eyes glance to me, and I crooned a soft tune, my little fleshy sniffling before rubbing his nose irritably.

 

“Some of the older kids hit me with a big stick.”

 

I bristled and rubbed up against his temple with my beak, combing his hair and preening him gently, absently planning rather lethal events. The fleshy sniffed and rubbed his eye, before flinching as salt invaded the shallow graze.

 

_“Nana~! Nana~!”_ I cawed loudly, shouting for the mother as the boy padded through the halls until he came to the living room, abandoning his schoolbag beside him on the couch.

 

“What’s wrong, Strawberry?” she asked, before choking on her breath when she saw her offspring huddled on the seat despairingly.

 

“I’m home, Mama,” he laughed weakly, playing with his fleshy little fingers.

 

“Oh, Tsu-kun!” Nana blurted, dashing forwards and kneeling to examine his blighted cheek with overflowing maternal concern. “What happened!?”

 

Tsuna glanced to me, before sighing and answering his mother softly, getting a gasp of outrage, before the woman scooped him up into her lap, squeezing the poor child as I launched myself free and set down on the coffee table, watching the interaction silently.

 

**. . .**

 

Hey, fleshy, guess what.

 

I peeked out the little boy’s school bag with a flat expression.

 

I’m going the frick with ya.

 

Tsuna blinked at me, before smiling awkwardly. It made me caw, the way his cheeks gained a happy hue as he called for a quick strawberry kiss, stumbling away to pull on his socks.

 

**. . .**

 

I had a tally going at this point.

 

My feathers puffed as a nice breeze came through, swaying the tree I was settled in just outside of my fleshy’s class window, the screen opened to allow for airflow, and allowing me the luxury of witnessing several attempts on the boy’s life.

 

Well, perhaps not life, but it might as well have been.

 

Another tally was scored into the bark of the tree as a bright white shoe was shoved in the tiny boy’s way, causing him to take a rather gruesome tumble and the papers in his hands to fly around the room like badly tied sails. On cue, the class burst into childish fits of degrading giggles, the teacher only shaking his head, like he expected the turnout and wondered why he even gave the task to the youth.

 

I clicked my beak at that, taking a quick survey of the class’s attendance.

 

“Bird.”

 

I blinked, and looked over my shoulder, before gawking.

 

A child should not be this high in a tree!

 

“Bird,” he repeated, sharp-angled eyes gazing down at me with severity.

 

Get down from the tree! You’ll break every bloody vertebra!

 

“Bird.”

 

Get down, get down, get down!

 

I bounced over and began pushing the child away from the spindly branches and back into the sturdy fork, squawking loudly until he landed on his bottom on a natural landing in the tree.

 

“Bird.”

 

Giving him a look over, I deflated in relief when I found him unharmed; the relaxation giving way for a rise of irritation and miff.

 

The hecky heck were you doing up here!? Dumb child!

 

“Bird,” he said again, crossing his legs and staring down at me with a brand new fascination. “Smart bird.”

 

I groaned a caw before shaking my head and ruffling my feathers, regaining my composure. Huffing at the child, I turned and pattered across the branch until I had returned to my original place, gazing into the room and watching Tsuna slump into his table.

 

“Bird.”

 

Oh my _God!_ Where are your _parents!?_

 

“Oh jeez!” the teacher gasped, abandoning his chalk at my loud shriek and dashing to the window, gaping at the weird duo he saw. “Hibari-san! Get down from there, please!”

 

“Hmph,” the child, Hibari, tsked, turning his nose up at the adult. “Bird.”

 

I chirped at him to get his ass out of the tree and onto humanly safe land, repeating the process loudly when he leant forward to take in the gradient of my feathers.

 

“Hibari-san!”

 

Deciding that this weird monkey of a child wasn’t going to get down, I turned to the window in a dismissing manner, quickly locating my fleshy, and huffing in a mixture of humour and reprimand when I found him chalk white and frozen in a confused, baffled stupor.

 

Close your mouth, fleshy, you have food in your molars.

 

“Bird.”

 

Get down from the tree, God damn it!

 


	5. Chapter 5

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

  **Word Count: 1,375**

* * *

 

Tsuna watched with a kind of fascination as I sat on the slowly spinning blade of the ceiling fan, body in a contented poof as I held on, eyes closed against the breeze. He sat cross-legged on the floor with his head dropped back, watching me go around with his eyes, a cup of half-drunk juice held in his hands.

 

“You’ve been watching Strawberry for nearly half an hour, Tsu-kun,” Nana began gently, coming to crouch beside her simple-minded son. “Don’t you want to go and have lunch?”

 

I peered over the edge of the fan, staring down at my two fleshies as they both sat on the carpet and watched me wind around the ceiling. The fleshies and I stayed like that for a while, going around and around and around, until Nana perked up and got to her feet.

 

“I have to clean out Strawberry’s cage soon.”

 

My eye twitched.

 

My room isn’t messy.

  


My room isn’t messy!

* * *

 I squawked in indignation as my nest of trinkets and shinies were dumped down next to me on the counter, Tsuna whining as he dug out one of his character pins from it. My feathers ruffled as they poured my water down the sink, droplets bouncing up and splashing my beak, inducing a fit of sneezes.

 

The little fleshy giggled as he watched me, hands coming up to smother his grin.

 

“Strawberry’s head-banging!”

 

I am _not_ head-banging!

 

“Heavy metal head-bang!”

 

No!

 

He threw his head back in high pitched laughter, and I launched off the edge of the counter glaring with an intense focus on the pin pinched between his fingers.

 

Mine!

 

“ _Hiiee!_ Give that back!”

 

Tsuna chased me across the kitchen and whined as I perched on top of the wall-mounted cabinets, far from his tiny fleshied reach. He pouted and jumped fruitlessly as I preened my feathers, holding the pin in my talons as I groomed my colours.

 

“Strawberry!”

 

I huffed, and turned my beak up in pointed ignorance, making the boy gape in betrayal. 

 

“Mama! Strawberry’s being mean!”

 

“Oh, Strawberry,” she laughed, walking up as she dried her hands, the newspaper carpet of my room dumped into the trash. “You’re such a prima donna. Come on, come here.”

 

I eyed her from under my wing, glancing between the offered arm and her soft smile, before sighing and fluttering down to her. Nana cooed at me, before opening her hand and urging me to hand over the pin, making me huff and hold it closer to me, turning my face away.

 

“Please?” the mother hummed, bringing me to face height so she could gaze at me fully. “Give it back to Tsu-kun, please?”

 

No, it’s mine now. He left it out, and I found it. Mine.

 

“Strawberry?” Tsuna asked quietly, peering up at me from behind his hands.

 

No.

 

His eyes widened in pleading.

 

No.

 

His shoulders sagged a bit, feet scuffing the ground as he began to lose hope.

 

Noooooooooo.

 

“Okay,” he murmured, dropping his gaze to the ground in dejection.

 

I pegged the pin at his head and the fleshy gave a squeak as it bounced off his skull. I huffed and poofed my body up in annoyance as he grinned at me through his tears. 

 

“I love you, Strawberry,” he sniffed, giggling as he held his throbbing head.

* * *

“And I was like, ‘you cannot be doing this to me!’, but he just went and threw out a bag of perfectly good, half-eaten melon bread! Like, oh my _God!“_ Tori called, throwing his head back in outrage. “Like, I _bet_ he knew that I wanted it and was waiting for him to leave it. I bet my shiniest feather!”

 

I groaned and dropped my chin on the table in pain, the sounds of the storm roaring outside telling me that this suffering wasn’t going to be ended anytime soon. 

 

Nana giggled at me as she watched from her seat, her face in her hands as the warm steam of tea wafted up, watching me roll about as the crow yapped my ear off. She had let him come inside when the sky had cracked in lightning after near an hour of me pointedly ignoring him, resulting in him crashing into me with enthusiasm and nearly sending me tumbling off the tabletop.

 

My one solace was the cry of despair that had lurched from Tori’s syrinx upon Nana throwing out his bag of ‘discoveries’.

 

Tsuna had gone to school already and, as usual, had forgotten his umbrella. Nana had known this was going to happen and had shoved his raincoat into his bag - though the question still remained of whether or not he’d notice it.

 

“What the heck are you doin’!?” I squawked, stumbling away when I felt a warm body settle up against me. 

 

Tori blinked an cocked his head, black feathers shining against the lights. 

 

“Huddling, of course!” he cawed, bouncing forwards. “Everyone does it! It feels nice!”

 

“Personal space!” I yelped, bounding away as he followed, the two of us hopping in evasive and following circles.

 

“C’mon Strawberry! It’s fun!”

 

I hissed at him, shooting Nana an indignant glare as she grinned from behind her phone, no doubt recording the scene to email to the Weird Lady Vet Amanda, or upload to her growingly popular bird website, featuring the extravagantly beautiful me.

 

“Awaaaaaay” came my loud denial, skipping with urgency as he gained with longer legs.

 

“Strawberry!” he shouted, before making us both scream as he bowled into my, wings and legs going everywhere as I groaned, weighed down by a mass of black.

 

“Off! Off! Off!” I squawked, shoving the ave from my back.

 

“Sorry!” he yelped, taking steps back and lowered his head. “I didn’t mean to!”

 

I huffed and shook myself out, noticing Nana had paused her recording to watch us closely, before turning back to the dejected crow. Tori shuffled awkwardly, glancing to me now and then to check for any reaction, making me groan before I dumped myself onto my belly, puffing up my feathers and pruning, getting a tangle out that had occurred in the tussle.

 

“Strawberry?” Tori asked slowly, watching me fix my colours.

 

I glanced to him, before sighing and replacing my wing.

 

“Okay, let’s try your ‘huddling’ thing.”

 

The crow waggled his tail in excitement and cawed gleefully as he hopped over to me, dropping down with near non-existent elegance, our feathers blending into each other as he ground his beak in contentment. I huffed and reached over, tugging fluff out of his nape, a croon of happiness tumbling from him as he carefully sorted through the ruffled colours along my back.

 

“Aw, you’re so cute!” Nana squealed, snapping pictures and recording videos. 

 

Tori cawed loudly, and I snapped at him to shut up, before poofing myself up in annoyance as the mother cooed at me.

* * *

_“What’re ya doin’~?”_ I whistle, fluttering down onto the computer desk next to the Sawada mother, gazing up at her as she typed happily on the keyboard.

 

“I’m making the weekly update,” she hummed, petting my feathers and making me close my eyes in delight. “I got so many videos this time, it’s taking a little while longer to upload them all.”

 

I snorted and puffed myself up, making the woman giggle before she tapped my beak. 

 

Her blog had gotten a fair bit of attention with all of the videos, pictures and articles she had written about and surrounding the happenings in her home, mostly scenes of Tsuna fleeing as I dive bombed him for finishing the honey. She had a small team of editors scattered around the world - most of which openly admitted to mainly being there for the early access they got. Nana didn’t mind though, having somewhat expected it, but now, she had a small community of fellow bird lovers and mothers from all over the world.

 

In other words, she was a lot less lonely than she was before. And it made me happy.

 

_“Strawberry~!”_ I chirped, climbing up her sleeve and tugging at her hair. _“Strawberry~!”_

 

Nana cooed and smiled, before leaning down and letting me ‘mwah!’ against her lips, causing giggles to bubble from her throat.

 

_“Mwah! Mwah! I love you~!”_

  



	6. Chapter 6

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 1,117**

* * *

 

 

Tsuna giggled as he titled the watering can further, splashing my feathers as I preened and fluttered in a shallow dish, floral patterns curling around the porcelain rim of my bath. I huffed and fluttered, getting the herbal water straight into the roots of my feathers. 

 

Nana smiled from an outdoor table set, watching us from over her drink as her fleshy son cried out playfully when I flicked water up at his face. Next to her saw a little pot of aloe vera creams, something she had incorporated into my bath time schedule to lavish my talons with. 

 

This is the luxury I deserve, I’m glad people are finally realising it.

 

“Okay, c’mon up Strawberry,” Tsuna urged, holding his hand out to me.

 

I gave one last twirl in the water before jumping onto his wrist and shaking myself out thoroughly, making him squeal, before a sneeze snuck out from my beak, causing me to jolt and Nana to coo. My expression flattened at her in indignation, before she pulled a fluffy towel from her lap and made a nest shape out of it, allowing me to settle inside as I bathed in sunlight., drying off pleasantly.

 

Tsuna giggled at my expression before clambering up onto his chair and chewing through lumps of chilled watermelon, a frozen honey slide given to me by the mother.

 

“So, how’s school, Tsu-kun?” she asked, pouring the boy a cup of cold juice. “Are those kids still being mean to you?”

 

The little fleshy blinked as if going over his week, before shaking his head in an almost surprised manner.

 

“No, they haven’t, actually; and sensei’s been gone for the whole week! The substitute is really nice! She gives you a lolly if you answer right.”

 

I nibbled on the sweet ice casually, listening with a sense of satisfaction. 

 

“Strawberry!” 

 

I looked up at the loud caw and hummed when I spotted the familiar black mass coming down from the horizon. Nana barely batted an eye as Tori crashed into the branches of the tree and simply smiled as he dropped down on the wooden table with a groan.

 

“Hey, Tori,” I hummed, pleased enough with the situation that even his presence wasn’t a damper on my mood.

 

“We did it! We found that human’s house!” he cawed, shuffling himself out. “So...”

 

I huffed before ruffling my feathers in an attempt to air them out more.

 

“Go water yourself down, you’ve been flying for hours, who knows what kind of stuff you’ve got wedged under there.”

 

Tori let out a whine before hopping into the water dish and splashing about, getting a squeal of adoration from the Sawada mother, Tsuna still chewing through a watermelon, juice making his cheeks sticky and shiny.

 

“Remember to clean under your wings,” I chirped, nibbling on the tips of my royal blues.

 

“Okay,” he gurgled, face down in the bath.

 

Nana giggled into her cup as Tori shook himself out with loud slapping noises, before hopping up onto the table and ploughing into my side, making me groan and be forcibly shuffled until he had space beside me in my towel nest. I hissed and squirmed as my feathers were pushed uncomfortably against their grain, not enough space for us both, before Tori squawked and lifted his large, black wing, draping it over my back.

 

I blinked. 

 

“Now, just what do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Your nest is small! This makes room!” he cawed with pride like he had solved some sort of mathematical phenomenon.

 

I squinted at him as well as my birdy body could manage, before grunting and settling down.

 

Tsuna giggled into his cup, before sliding over a wedge of watermelon, withdrawing his fleshy hand quickly as Tori eyed up the offering. He then proceeded to slam his face into the cold sweet with vigour, making me look away pointedly to withhold my gag reflex.

 

“God damn it, Tori,” I groaned, trying to block out the brutal, flinging assault on the fruit.

* * *

Nana hummed the theme of her drama as she folded clothes in the living room, the deck door open to let in a breeze and air out the freshly dusted house. I tweeted along with her as I bounced around outside, sparrows exchanging gossip in high voices by the seed and water bowls.

 

Apparently, Nami-chuu was getting reformed. My fleshy was going there. Good.

 

I leisurely cracked seeds within my beak, eating out of boredom, rather than hunger, just watching the sparrow folk titter amongst each other, catching snippets which caught my interest now and then.

 

“And what about that blackbird, Strawberry?” a sweet-voiced one asked. “I’ve heard that you keep his company.”

 

“Tori’s a hassle. But he grows on you. Like fungus.”

 

“Bird.”

 

Holy hell.

 

I spun around and squawked in outrage as the familiar eyes of that Hibari kid peered over the top of the fence, fingers white in their strain to hold him off the ground. 

 

“Bird.”

 

Why are you here?!  _ How  _ are you here!?

 

“Bird,” Hibari uttered again, still hanging on for dear life.

 

My beak opened and closed in muted disbelief before I grunted and turned away with a huff. The sparrows chirped restlessly amongst themselves, highly aware of the fleshy human boy which was watching.

 

“He one of yours?” one asked quietly.

 

“No,” I grunted, puffing my feathers in aggravation.

 

“Bird.”

 

Holy hell you are close to my face! 

 

I twittered in rage as the small boy stared down at me, suddenly crouched on the porch, sparrows taking off in a flurry of fright. A hiss lifted from my tongue as I bounced back, eyeing him as he stared intently, not at all deterred by the open hostility.

 

“Strawberry! Mama wants to know where you’ve hidden the -  _ Hiiieee! Hibari-san!?” _

 

Hibari turned glacial eyes upon the screeching boy and I took my chance of his distraction to flee from his attention, flapping over to land on the puffy mess of the fleshy's hair, settling down happily. The tiny Sawada remained frozen as the elder boy stalked forwards, letting me glance at him, now satisfactorily eye-height with him.

 

Huffing at the human, I began to absently preen Tsuna’s hair, falling pieces of fluff from the thick brown locks, proving that he had been messing around with Nana’s knitting yarn. A cluck of reprimand fell from my beak as I untangled a rather hefty knot, not bothering with the boy’s whine of pain.

 

“Strawberry,” he whimpered, still frozen before the glaring kid. “Why?”

 

I gripped clumps of his locks before rolling forwards, nose to beak with the fleshy child, and gave him a flat expression.

 

You think I wanted this either?

 

“Bird.”

 

Go away!   
  



	7. Chapter 7

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 1,843**

* * *

 

 

“Strawberry!”

 

I spluttered as I vaulted awake, on my back and wings flailing to return my feet to the lining of my nest as my eyes snapped around blindly. 

 

“Strawberry!” Tsuna grinned, cage door open as he waved frantically. “Wake up! Wake up! The show’s starting!”

 

Why are you here? It’s too early. Go away. This is illegal in the state of Me.

 

“Strawberry! Strawberry!” 

 

You are going to Middle School next week, why are you still like this?!

 

“Strawberry! Come ooooon!”

 

Go awaaaaaaaaaay.

 

I squawked as I was scooped up haphazardly by the child and pressed against his chest before he dashed into the living room, giggling loudly as I shrieked. My eyes were wide and my wings pressed flat as the tiny fleshy threw himself onto the couch, still keeping me to him and relatively safe as the opening of the weekend mecha anime began playing.

 

“Yes! Now we can finally learn the identity of Red Finch!” he cheered.

 

Yaaay...Can’t you see my  _ enthusiasm? _

 

I shuffled around and grunted when I got comfortable in a divot of the boy’s body, grumbles bubbling from me as bird-themed power rangers skimmed the screen in their usual, brightly coloured manners. 

 

_ ‘Red Finch!’ _

 

_ ‘Blue Jay!’ _

 

_ ‘Green Bee-Eater!’ _

 

_ ‘Yellow Thornbill!’ _

 

_ ‘Pink Robin!’ _

 

End my suffering.

 

The anime continued to follow a plot many others had done so before, ‘Black Swan’ sending waves of low-level enemies before the ‘general’ of the season was brought for the season finale. 

 

I sighed and tapped my foot impatiently on Tsuna’s chest, looking around to see if something could entertain me.

 

Tap! Tap! Tap!

 

“Hey! Strawberry!”

 

Actually, this show isn’t too bad!

 

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

 

“Hey! Hey, Strawberry! Look at what I found!”

 

Ooh, how intriguing! It seemed that Yellow Thornbill planned on using her super attack! Golly, she’s only used that seven times! In a seven-episode season!

 

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

 

“Strawberry! I promise you’ll be interested!”

 

Hm, I wonder how Red Finch is going to divert the suspicion this time? But wait, didn’t the fleshy say he was going to be found out?! Aha! He will inevitably fail! We shall learn of his identity!

 

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

 

“Strawberry! Pleeeease!?”

 

_ ‘You’re...You’re not the real Red Finch?!’ _

 

_ ‘No...my friends, I have led to you all for too long. I am in fact-’ _

 

WHO ARE YOU!?

 

_ ‘Find out in the next episode of-’ _

 

I let out a screech just as Tsuna threw up his hands in dismay, both of is demanding the blood of the writers as the credits rolled.

 

“No! Today was supposed to be the day!” Tsuna cried, throwing himself on the floor and curling up. “I had theories, Strawberry! I had the lore figured out and everything! Why!?”

 

Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap-

 

“What!” I snapped, pushing off the couch and landing on the windowsill, startling Tori enough to make him flap in alarm. “What do you want!?”

 

“I found a pebble!” he cawed, “A shiny pebble!”

 

I can feel my feathers _moulting_.

 

“And that would interest me.. _.how?” _

 

Tori fluttered a bit, like he was proud, before swooping off to get his pebble. His absence allowed me to groan a bit and preen my feathers from the rough handling from before, realigning my colours impeccably. 

 

“I’m back!”

 

_ Wa-thunk! _

 

“Tori that’s not a pebble!” I shrieked, staring at a  _ baseball _ . “Tori!”

 

“But it was on the ground with the other rocks!” the bird cried, still on the other side of the glass.

 

“Tori!”

 

The crow flapped his wings as if to wave away the situation, cawing loudly as he pushed the ball over and presented Japanese penned onto the side.

 

“Look, it has human writing! That’s the important part!”

 

I deflated a bit; of course, writing. Shaking my head and peered at the characters before sighing and angling myself to look at the corvid from around the ball.

 

“It’s a name. You took some kid’s ball.”

 

Wait.

 

I looked at the ball, then spun my head to look at Tsuna. Then at the ball again. I tweeted in victory and bowed around the baseball to get Tori’s attention; the blackbird chirping when he saw me, both of us leaning to see one another.

 

“I have an idea!”

* * *

Tsuna shuffled a bit, holding the baseball in his hand with his new Nami uniform hanging off him daggily, the clothing not quite his size but promising him room to grow in. He was the epitome of ‘awkward and uncomfortable’ as he loitered around the entrance to Nami Middle, clutching at his bag strap for comfort.

 

I tapped my foot impatiently from the trees, the faint sounds of Tori gorging himself on some bread he found on the sidewalk. Ugh.

 

“Move fleshy! Don’t make me swoop you!” I cawed, making the boy cringe at the shrill call and stumble those last steps into the gates. 

 

“So, you’re setting your human up?” the crow asked, choking down the last of his breakfast and bouncing up beside me. “Will I get my pebble back?”

 

“It’s not a pebble, and it’s not yours. You’ll find another pebble soon, don’t worry,” I sighed, expression flattening as the corvid tried to sneakily instigate a huddling session. “I will push you off this branch, so help me.”

 

Tori whined, but I tuned him out and continued to watch Tsuna as he looked around helplessly, completely lost in the sea of nameless students as he tried to find someone with the name of ‘Yamamoto Takeshi’ amongst the masses. Both an easy and difficult task, the name a common one, but finding the  _ right _ Yamamoto Takeshi; now there’s the rub!

 

And thus began the day of me and Tori - grammatically correct because I’m more important - watching my fleshy’s orientation day. Aw, how he’s grown.

 

“Bird.”

 

What the-!?

 

I spun around and squawked when I saw the very familiar visage of the sharp-eyed tree-fence-home invader-child, who was yet again crouched on a precariously thin branch and leering at me.

 

“Oh hey, I didn’t know humans could fly!” Tori cawed, a bottle cap on his talons.

 

“They can’t!” I yelped and thus began herding the youth away, flapping blue and black wings.

 

Back! Back, ye child! Back!

 

“Bird,” Hibari uttered again, unperturbed by my shepherding and only leant forwards as I came closer. “Interesting little herbivore...Strange.”

 

Speak for yourself, you monkey-fleshy!

 

“Hey, Strawberry! Some tall human is talking to your human!” Tori chirped, getting my attention.

 

I cawed and abandoned the child before bouncing over to our scouting position, peering into the classroom window that had been deemed as Tsuna’s 1-A. 

 

He can thank me for my generous help in getting his tush into the A-class!

 

I hunkered down and watched carefully as the two human children exchanged...well, the tall one spoke and Tsuna just sort of nodded and gave half-answers. Then Tsuna pulled forth the ball, and I ignored Tori’s screech of ‘pebble!’ as I witnessed the tall child take it back with glee and exuberance. 

 

A student opened the window to let in a breeze and I chirped as voices finally reached us.

 

“Wow! I thought I lost this! How d'you find it!?” Yamamoto gaped, looking the baseball over.

 

“Uh, well, technically my  _ bird _ found it and she just sort of gave it to me?” he tried to explain, getting a weird look from one of his classmates from behind his back.

 

I blinked. Yamamoto had noticed that.

 

Quick, befriend him, little fleshy!

 

“Bir-”

 

_ “Sshh~!” _ I whistled, holding out a wing to the tree boy.  _ “Sshh~!” _

 

Hibari looked minutely startled underneath his guise of constant neutrality, but I was just a touch too invested in the possibility of my fleshy finally having some sort of social life, and the derailing of his future as a hermit, to notice.

 

“A bird!? You have a pet, Sawada-san?” Yamamoto asked, laughter and excitement in his voice.

 

“You can just call me Tsuna…” he tapered like he was unsure if he was doing ‘social’ right. “And yeah, she’s an Australian Rosella.”

 

Australian  _ Crimson  _ Rosella, thank you very much!

 

“Wow! I have no idea what that means!” the tall one grinned.

 

You fool!

 

“Hey! Hey, Strawberry! When can we go get another pebble?” Tori squawked, already losing interest in the human interaction, scratching under his wing to entertain himself. “Ooh, can we get another big one? With human letters on it again!”

 

“I’ll write on it myself if you want now shush it!” I spun towards him and hissed, making him deflate a little, but the promise of human letters allowed him to bounce back and hunker down for a little longer.

 

“Eh,” Tsuna withered a bit, realising perhaps that Australian bird species wasn’t as common knowledge as he had thought. “I can show you a picture of her, if you want?”

 

Oh, yes, please do. Show him the magnificence that is the extravagantly beautiful me. Increase the expanse of my dominion.

 

“Sure!”

 

“Ey! Yamamoto-san!” someone called, “Come over ‘here! We found the sign-up board!”

 

“Ah! Coming!” he shouted out, before turning to Tsuna who had just taken out his phone. “Sorry, Tsuna-san, I’ve gotta go. Maybe next time?”

 

“Y-yeah! Next time, good luck!” the fleshy squeaked out and was left at his desk.

 

Ah, abandoned again. 

 

“Strawberry! Are we done now?” Tori whined, hopping on the branch to shake it in his restlessness. 

 

“Fine,” I sighed, stretching my wings. “Might as well go. Nothing else is going to happen today.”

 

“Bird.”

 

Shite! I forgot about him!

 

Tori and I spun around to face the teen that was looming over us inquisitively, staring without hold at my colours in a way reminiscent of a student trying to remember a formula an hour before an exam. I cawed in dislike and bounced out to where the branches were thin and tapered, twigs bending under my weight as the crow follows and mimicked my evasion.

 

“What a weird human,” he chirped, hanging upside down beside me.

 

“Bird,” Hibari demanded again, edging towards us, seemingly without regard to his own life.

 

Stoooooooop! Why are you human offspring so unreasonable!?

 

“Come on, let’s get you a pebble,” I squawked before taking off with the crow, catching a glimpse of Tsuna talking to some girl.

 

Well, at least he’s got that going for him.

 

…

 

Wait does that mean that the Hibari kid goes to the same school as Tsuna? 

 

Oh. Oh dear. 

 

My poor little fleshy.

* * *

“Are you happy now?” I asked, perched on a boulder and soaking up the sun, my colours vibrant under the light.

 

Tori chirped wordlessly as he scoured down in the rubble and debris of stones at the riverside, flipping pebbles with his beak, looking for the one with ‘just the right shine! It needs to be shiny!’

 

“Not yet! It needs to be round too!” he cawed, tossing a decided triangle rock into the water.

 

“Does it,” I sighed, puffing myself up with a huff of resignation.

 

We’re going to be here for a while.


	8. Chapter 8

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

**Word Count: 1,667**

 

* * *

 

 

Fleshy.

 

I bounced forwards and got right into Tsuna’s line of vision, blocking the screen of his computer and making him whine as I persisted to collect his focus.

 

You’ve yet to actually make a friend in your new school, even after my arduous efforts to get that Yamamoto boy to talk to you. The only thing you have to show for your half a term of Middle school is - I skipped over to his textbook and forced it open to show a terribly scribbled homage to some ‘Sasagawa Kyoko’ girl (probably) and a rather prominent absence of any learning materials - a rather unnerving fixation.

 

“Strawberry!” Tsuna yelped, slamming the book shut and crossing his arms over the top of it, using his human weight to keep it closed. “Stop looking through my stuff!”

 

Someone needs to make sure you’re doing work!

 

I hissed and flung his eraser at him, effectively thunking the fleshy on the forehead and making him whine as he protected against small projectiles.

 

“Strawberry! Stop it!”

 

Stop watching mecha anime - I hopped onto his computer and hit the sleep button for the screen - and do your homework! 

 

The young teen complained and blocked the roll of sticky tape that was bowled at him from across the table and hunched over as I dragged his maths book, jumping up to perch on the pole of his desk lamp to loom over the little fleshy and instil fear as a motivating factor.

 

Tsuna pouted and started scratching answers before yelping as I charged forward and yanked on a lock of his hair.

 

Show your working!

 

He held his aching scalp and quickly scrawled out the steps to his leaps of logic, moaning at me to be more gentle with his fragile being and getting a huff out of me as I nibbled on the tips of my wings.

 

“I’m trying to make friends,” he sighed after a while, making me pause my grooming to listen to his human words. “But there are kids from my elementary school so the whole ‘fresh start’ idea that I had going on hasn’t exactly worked out.”

 

I shifted a bit on the lamp as I watched him depreciate himself, feathered puffing up as I grumbled and hopped off to bounce up to his hand, settling down beside it. 

 

Tsuna blinked, my fluff drawing him out of his thoughts and he smiled a bit as I prodded his fleshy hand with my talons like one would something dead with a stick. He gave a warm laugh and urged me to climb up onto his wrist before he leant back and hugged me to his chest, letting out a long breath as I hooked my chin over his shoulder in a rather human embrace.

 

“Days like this,” Tsuna began, “I’m glad I managed to convince Mama to adopt you, Strawberry.”

 

I paused for a moment before cawing quietly, giving a huff as I yanked on his hair a bit. Don’t you be getting all mushy.

 

“Love you too,” he hummed and whistled at me. “Strawberry~!”

 

I scoffed but submitted to his pestering and pressed my beak to his puckered lips with a loud tweet.

 

“Strawberry~! Strawberry~!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

I hung from the clothesline with a sigh of boredom, swinging absently as Tori bounced about and pushed the clothes pegs up and down the ropes. I ground my beak and stared off before blinking as a squawk of surprise was spluttered out and the ‘thwump’ of the blackbird hitting the ground rung out.

 

Black eyes stared down at him for a moment before I pulled myself up and began to sort out my colours without care for the male ave.

 

“You didn’t ask if I was okay!” Tori whined, peering up at me with a side on head. 

 

“Well, are you injured?” I grunted, unwavering in my preening, a feather finally settling right after I pulled at it for a moment.

 

“Well, no, but-”

 

“Then there’s no need to ask,” came the easy twitter, “When you’re actually injured, then I’ll ask if you’re all right.”

 

“But if I’m that bad then it’s obvious I’m not okay!”

 

“And I will ask to know that, but until then,” I hummed, flapping away from the clothesline dismissively as he squawked after me in indignation and complaint.

 

Nana giggled as I swooped over her head and into the house the matron holding her arm out for me to circle back and perch upon with a huff.

 

“Oh, you’re teasing your boyfriend again aren’t you?”

 

He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my henchman - and a lacking one at that.

 

The woman snorted as if she could hear my words before letting me flutter over to the dinner table and hop around, looking through all the mail and junk that the postman had brought today. 

 

Tsuna was already gone for school again, and that left me with- Tori crash-landed on the table in his frenzy for all the papers, his beak in a constant gape as he cawed in bliss and delight.

 

“Strawberry! Look at all these human words! There are hundreds! We could build a nest with this!”

 

“It’s not that-” I paused and swung my head around to him. “What what do you mean ‘we could build a nest’?”

 

The crow disregarded my grunt of annoyance to continue rubbing himself all over the papers, tweeting in euphoria as he rolled about on the random assortments of advertisement. 

 

“I see you found today’s mail,” Nana laughed, pulling a chair out to sit with us as she placed down some sweet water for me. 

 

I tweeted a huff at the woman before taking part in the sugar water happily, my sweet beak demanding satisfaction as the mother leafed through the papers in search of something eye-catching. Tori cawed loudly as she plucked a sheet from under him, making the crow roll about and then flap back onto his feet as he made insistent noises for her to return the page.

 

“Oh, look at this!” Nana called, and I flew up to perch on her shoulder to investigate her surprise. “It’s a personal tutor! Tsu-kun could use one, now that he’s in Middle School. Those grades just aren’t going to fly this year!”

 

I grunted and tugged on her earring, making the woman laugh as she waved me off and covered her ear to protect it.

 

“Okay, sorry for the pun, Strawberry!”

 

I hissed and puffed myself. No, she wasn’t.

 

“Strawberry!” Tori whined, bouncing on the table when she continued to read the flyer. “Strawberry I want my letters back!”

 

“Hush, my fleshy is reading.”

 

“But Strawberry! My letteeeeeers!”

 

I lamented and rolled my eyes before I began grooming myself, attacking a feather that hadn’t settled right after the flight and pulled at the dust on my wings. 

 

“Strawberry! Hey! Strawberry!”

 

Nana put her chin in her palm as she pondered the note, making me tweet an encouragement before returning to my precise practice. 

 

“What do you think, hun?” she asked, showing me the paper.

 

I sighed and abandoned my work to peer down at the script, more than a bit disgruntled by the ‘live-in tutor’s decision to be paid with free food and accommodation. Alarms were trilling in my head as I nestled down on the woman’s delicate shoulder, my displeasure obvious to her.

 

“Tsu-kun really needs a tutor, Strawberry,” Nana explained gently, reaching to the painted vase in the centre of the table and pulling out a rolled-up sheet of paper - one of the fleshy’s tests he tried to hide no doubt. “These D’s and C- just aren’t going to be able to get him through Middle School, let alone get into a High School.”

 

I cawed lowly and flexed my clutches, careful not to do more than lightly graze the mother’s skin since the Sawada’s weren’t ones to clip my talons. 

 

But she was right. As always. 

 

Tsuna’s performance was doing more than damaging his already pulverised reputation, it was affecting his results in the long run. It was better to tackle the issue while there was still time to recuperate and while he was still being taught the basics in school since there would be less to catch up on. I know, school and grades aren’t all that matters, but they don’t not matter either, especially in the competitive society that is Japanese academia.

 

But does it have to be a ‘live in’? God, I’m not going to get any sleep, am I? 

 

Nana must have seen the begrudging acceptance in my eye because she cooed sweetly in thanks and called for me to jump onto her hand.

 

“Strawberry~! Strawberry~!” she hummed, and I sighed before whistling the usual tune in echo.

 

“Strawberry~! Mwah~! Strawberry~! Mwah~!”

 

“Oh, my feathers!” Tori gaped as I hopped down onto the table with a ‘thunk’, no longer so very distraught over his stolen letters. “Strawberry! Do the pecky thing with me too!” he squawked before bouncing toward me and making me flutter back with a disgruntled tweet.

 

“Back! Back, ye demon!” I hissed, flapping my wings at him and watching as he deflated in disappointment.

 

“Okay!” Nana announced, getting to her feet and taking the sheet with her, “I’m going to call them.”

 

I turned to look at her as she bounced over to the phone, a faint grunt of annoyance coming from me as Tori all but smacked into my side and settled down for one of his huddling sessions. Shaking my head and snapping at the male when he tried to groom me, I returned my focus on the mother as she checked the numbers twice as she dialled in on the landline’s wall-mounted phone.

 

“Oh, what’s his name?” she tutted, phone squeezed between her shoulder and ear as she re-read the page. “Oh, Reborn-san! What an exotic name, he must be European!”

 

I huffed and tucked my legs in as I allowed Tori to croon into vibration, my displeasure still adamant in remaining.

 

Honestly, what kind of name is ‘Reborn’?

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 2,122**

* * *

 

 

Nana giggled as she continued to snap pictures and recordings of me while I bounced and climbed about, exploring the cat tree that had been awarded the higher purpose of entertaining and accommodating the extravagantly beautiful me. She cooed as I peaked out of the cubby and swung from ropes, tweeting happily at the soft material that padded the surfaces.

 

_Tap! Tap!_

 

“Hey! Strawberry!”

 

Ooh, there’s a fluff ball on the string.

 

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

 

“Strawberry! Hey, hey. Hey! Strawberry!”

 

I wonder if I can stretch my wings out here or if it’s too small.

 

_Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap!_

 

“Oh my- Tori, what do you want?!” I squawked, sticking my head out of the cubby and hissing at the crow.

 

“I found something! Come look!” Tori cheered, waving a kind of material from the window.

 

Oh God, he’s stolen some kid’s handkerchief again. It’s probably because of the embroidery - hopefully, he doesn’t pluck that out this time. Nana had been feeling guilty for the whole weekend.

 

“Give it back, Tori,” I groaned, crawling up onto the top level of the tree. “You can’t keep swooping children for their loose feathers.”

 

“But it’s got writing!” he chirped in defence, wiggling under the cracked open window until he popped up inside, the cloth in his talon. “Besides, they always grow a new one!”

 

“Doesn’t mean you should take it - and who said you could come inside!?”

 

“Oh! Look ‘Berry, your boyfriend is here to see you!” Nana cheered, pocketing her phone and dashing off to the kitchens to fetch some fresh fruits.

 

No, fleshy, you’ll encourage him!

 

“Take it back, Tori,” I urged tiredly, watching him bounce up to my fluffy tree. “Some kid’s probably having a heart attack after having his stuff swiped right out of his hands.”

 

“Wow! What’s that! Did your humans build it! Humans are really good with their talons I hear.”

 

“Tori,” I warned, keeping him on track as I eyed him from over the edge as he played with the ball and string. “Did you even ask for it?”

 

“…No...” he chirped, ceasing his messing.

 

“Did you even say _anything_?” I asked, seeing how he shuffled on his feet.

 

“...I screamed ‘mine’ and flew off.”

 

“I’m ignoring you now.”

 

“No, wait, Strawberry!”

 

I turned around and stared out the window pointedly while the crow bounced around on the floor, flapping his wings and clambering about as he whined in isolation.

 

“Oh, hey, more writing! Strawberry read these for me!”

 

I groaned and looked to the crow before yelping and flying over as he pulled at the papers in Nana’s drawers, hisses and squawks coming from me as I ushered him away from the documents.

 

“That’s my fleshy’s! Don’t play with them!” I snapped and Tori withered at the scolding, chirping a quiet apology.

 

I made a face at his guilt and rolled my eyes before looking to the papers he had tackled. They weren’t something I had seen before and I couldn’t deny; I was curious - Tori saw that too and I could see his excitement as I hopped over to the files and began to read to myself carefully.

 

Credentials? Certifications?

 

I tilted my head as I read through achievements and a gratuitous amount of Masters Degrees from a range of universities and faculties until I tugged to turn the page and gave a noise of understanding.

 

Good fleshy Nana, making sure those who come into my nest are safe.

 

* * *

  
I yawned and preened at my colours as the sounds of Tsuna fumbling around, half-asleep, came from his room after he had slapped at his alarm.

 

The fleshy had finally learnt to wake up at a reasonable hour though the process of dragging himself from his bed still took nearly as much time. But, the chaos that usually came with school-day mornings were no longer a daily occurrence as he shuffled his way through the house and towards success.

 

“Tsu-kun!” Nana called, and I looked up as the fleshy peered out of his room with squinting eyes. “Breakfast is ready, time to come down!”

 

Tsuna groaned and slunk back into his room, tampering around for a couple minutes before he stumbled into the open with his school tie hanging crookedly around his neck as he dragged his bag behind him.

 

Another lovely morning.

 

I bounced along the railing before landing on the youth’s head and wrapped my talons around his thick locks, holding on tight as he trudged down the stairs. His exaggerated steps made me rock back and forth on his head but I had anchored myself well and rode him all the way into the kitchen before dropping down onto the counter where Nana placed a plate of honeyed seeds for me.

 

“Good morning, Tsu-kun,” she cooed, kissing her son on his brow making him grumble as he stumbled over to the breakfast table, head bobbing over his bowl dangerously.  “You stayed up watching videos again, didn’t you? Oh, I thought I told you not to do that anymore!”

 

I chirped as the mother urged me up onto her shoulder and clambered on, tugging at her earring and tweeting sweetly as she touched at my crimson feathers. I settled down in the crook of her neck as she sat beside her son, taking long sips of tea as she watched the young teen rock in his chair.

 

“Come on, sweety. Earth to Tsu-kun!” she laughed, tapping the boy’s forehead and making him jump.

 

“Mama!” he whined, and I paused my preening to glance at him for less than a second.

 

“Eat your breakfast,” Nana urged, “You’re going to need the energy since you didn’t sleep well.”

 

“Okay,” Tsuna grumbled and shovelled a spoonful into his mouth.

 

I tweeted and cooed as my fleshies ate together, the little one sliding me small pieces of his eggs and letting me nibble them off of the pads of his fingers. Jumping off Nana’s shoulder, I fluttered over to my lovely new glorified perch and sang in operatic volumes as she bustled Tsuna about, shoving random assorted items into his book bag - that was ‘somehow’ already beat up.

 

“Mama, Strawberry’s screeching again,” he whined.

 

I whipped around and squawked at him in outrage.

 

How _dare?!_ My melodies are sought after far and wide and when I am so generous as to bestow you an impromptu, free listening you insult me!? The audacity!

 

“She’s just sad to see you go, you know how much she misses you when you leave for school,” Nana chuckled and I really did screech in indignation then. “See? She agrees!”

 

_EEERR!_ Wrong!

 

The Sawada mother smiled at me and reached to scratch at my nape but I ducked out of the way with a huff and stormed off to the edge of my pedestal.

 

“She’s sulking.”

 

I am _not!_

 

I puffed myself up and hissed when Tsuna tried to sneak a kiss making him draw back and sigh before running off to grab his lunchbox, running out of time before he had to leave for school. I grumbled and twittered in annoyance as Nana cooed at me, cupping her own cheeks as she spoke in a baby-voice that was reserved specifically for Tsuna and me.

 

“Mama! Do you know where my bottle is?!”

 

“It should be somewhere in the fridge,” she called before a knock came to the door and I finally turned around to watch as she floated over, always ready to chat the ear off of every door-to-door salesman who came along. “Oh, hello! My, what a well-dress young man!”

 

I tweeted loudly at the woman when she stepped into obscurity; the wall covering both her and the doorway and making me annoyingly anxious. When she didn’t respond I flapped about and squawked for her attention before kicking off the platform and soared around the corner, landing on the stair banister with a huff.

 

“Strawberry, honey, you’ve gotta be patient!” Nana scolded with a soft laugh as I glared at her before turning my eye on the figure taking up...a portion of the doorway.

 

Who was letting their infant walk off? Where is your mother?

 

The baby looked up at me with wide, unblinking eyes and I made a face as he tipped his fedora to me and got Nana to squeal at his ‘cute’ behaviour.

 

“Mama, I put the pan in the sink to soak, oka- what is that?” Tsuna blinked, walking into the hall to stand beside me close enough that I scuttled over to stand on his shoulder.

 

I think it’s a fleshy child, but I’m not _sure_ , you know?

 

“I am Reborn, and from today forth, I will be your tutor, Dame-Tsuna,” the baby declared, chin lifted in a confident manner.

 

Dame-Tsuna?

 

“Dame-Tsuna?” Nana echoed, smiling tensely.

 

“They have called you that since Elementary school due to your apparent ‘no-good’ nature, correct, Dame-Tsuna?” Reborn hummed easily and I felt Tsuna flinch under my talons.

 

I turned my head and tugged on a tangle in his hair when he withered under my gaze, Nana’s eyes boring into the boy as well as we silently interrogated him as to why he had absconded to mention the rather demeaning name. When he averted his eyes, I craned my body to face him inescapably.

 

“Tsu-kun,” Nana breathed. “...We’ll talk about this later.”

 

“Okay, Mama,” he muttered, and I huffed loudly. “But since when did I have to have a tutor? I’m doing fine!”

 

“This is Middle school, Tsu-kun, you’re going to have to work a lot harder there in order to keep up with the other kids. Reborn-san here is going to help you do that!” she smiled, quick to flip her internal switch even as I simpered to myself and made plans to watch my fleshy at school again.

 

No fleshy of mine shall be tormented; ‘tis a direct insult upon my person!

 

“But he’s a baby! Mama, a _baby!”_

 

I gave a screech as Tsuna went down hard, outrage clear in my voice as Reborn landed upon the banister with a flourish, the Sawada youth sprawled on the ground and clutching his face.

 

Did that kid just kick my fleshy!?

 

“Now, Tsu-kun, don’t go judging people by their appearance,” Nana scolded, putting a hand on her hip as she wagged her finger at his strewn figure. “Reborn-san has shown me proof of his accreditations and he is more than suitable to be your tutor!”

 

Fleshy there are more pressing matters at the moment! He hit my little fleshy!

 

“Now, it’s time for school. Reborn-san will be here for your first lesson when you get back so don’t worry, we’ll deal with the details then!”

 

I frowned and fluttered over to set down in front of Tsuna’s face as he stubbornly remained laid on the floor beside his bookbag. A chirp came from me as I eyed how red his forehead was from the assault and hopped forward to give the spot a loud _‘mwah~!’_

 

“Thank you, Strawberry,” he pouted before getting to his feet and letting his mother kiss his cheek and squish his nose until he regained some enthusiasm. “Mama!”

 

“Now you can go. Have a good day at school, sweetie.”

 

Tsuna huffed but took off after a glance at the clock and I landed on the mother’s breast pocket, hanging off by my talons as I eyed the baby who had watched the interaction.

 

Reborn hummed after a moment before smiling up at Nana and folded his hands behind his back politely.

 

“I think I will spend today observing your son in his classes to see how he performs normally in that environment.”

 

“Thank you, Reborn-san, really,” she nodded, her hand raised in case I were to fall or just wanted to hop down. “Tsu-kun’s never been the academic type, he prefers to trial-and-error his learning, but he doesn’t allow himself enough time to do so effectively and it shows in his scores.”

 

I chirped a bit; she was right, with all the video-games the boy played he was well-versed with puzzles because of the sheer number he had come across with the excess of _Tomb Raider_ and _Uncharted_ making up his game stack along with gratuitous RPG-Makers. The little idiot just didn’t seem to realise that certain subjects were very puzzle-like and that he had to apply some of those skills.

 

“It’s no problem, Sawada-san. I will be going now,” he said and turned to leave after the boy.

 

I blinked as a green lizard stared up at me from the back of the baby’s hat, its tail curled in a spiral that bobbed with Reborn’s movements. It finally blinked - one eye at a time - and followed me with its eyes before its mouth opened.

 

“Later, roomie.”

 

Oh my _God-_


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

  **!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

**Word Count: 1,179**

* * *

 

 

Now, I like to think of myself as a sensible lady. I believe that I often act in a reputable and proportionate manner to the situation, and can keep my head when things go awry or become heated. So, you will excuse me, when I say I dive-bombed Tsuna’s head hard enough to send him tumbling when I saw the young fleshy parading around Namimori in nothing but his fish-patterned boxers.

 

“Fleshy, what on Earth!?” I shrieked as I fluttered overhead, the boy face-down in concrete. “I am _one hundred percent_ sure that you were wearing clothes before you went out the door!”

 

Tsuna got to his feet with a roar and bolted, like nothing had happened, leaving me circling the spot with bafflement, an indent obviously left in the pavement from when he had screeched to a halt. What the heck?

 

“Oh, Feathers….Tori! Tori, get over here!” I called, soaring up to the skies and slipping between the trees. “Tori! Something weird’s happened to my fleshy!”

 

“Huh?” the crow squawked, popping his head out of a hollow. “Strawberry! Hey, Strawberry, hi!”

 

“Tori! Fleshy’s acting freaking _possessed!”_

 

Tori blinked at me as I sank my talons into a branch and flapped erratically, trying to rush him out of whatever hobby he had been catering to. He ruffled his feathers and hopped over to me, completely unfazed by my panic.

 

“What’s going on Strawberry?” he asked, rubbing his beak against the branch. 

 

_“Madness!”_ I screeched, before taking off, hearing him caw in confusion and follow. “Fleshy! Stop before you kill your slug of a reputation!”

 

_“CONFESS TO KYOKO-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!”_

 

“No!” 

 

“I don’t get it, what’s wrong?” Tori cawed, coming up beside me as I tried to take shortcuts and redirect the youth. 

 

“He’ll humiliate himself! And _me!”_ I wheezed, before dive-bombing the boy which he brushed off without faze and continued to plough down the street. _“Fleshy!”_

 

Tsuna rounded the corner, and I swallowed a shriek as Namimori Middle school’s gate came into sight. He gave a roar and made a dead sprint before screeching to a halt in front of a young girl, and I felt my soul astral project as he screamed.

 

_“KYOKO-CHAN! WILL YOU DATE ME!?”_

 

This is it. This is how it ends. We might as well pack our bags and move to the _nunnery!_

 

Tori sat next to me on a branch as I mourned my reputation, the empire built on my decadence crumbling before me. I threw my head back and screeched before sagging, a whine of misery lurching from my beak.

 

“I’m sure it will be fine, Strawberry,” Tori assured, pulling at a leaf he had grasped in his talons. “Humans have a really bad memory, don’t you know? They can only remember things for twenty seconds!”

 

I groaned and shook my head when Tori offered me his leaf, leaving him to tear it apart idly.

 

Tsuna had long been dragged into the school by the disciplinary committee’s pompadoured entourage, looking ready to pass out from humiliation. And perhaps catch a cold from the lack of clothes.  

 

“Let’s just head back,” I grumbled, stretching my wings out. “We can’t do anything for him now.”

 

“Okay,” the crow chirped and followed as I cut over the roof of Namimori Middle School. “Oh, hey, it’s that weird human.”

 

“Which one?” I huffed, but the dark ave had already veered off course to his new interest. “Tori! Tori, get back here!”

 

I gave a frustrated chirp before making a loop and descended to the Middle School roof, fluttering my wings to slow the landing. I latched my talons onto the top of the high fence which followed the perimeter of the roof, turning my head around as I tried to find where that scoundrel crow had gone off to.

 

“Bird.”

 

Oh frick-

 

I looked to the right and saw the _‘Bird’_ human staring up at me, sat cross-legged on the floor with his uniform jacket just hanging off him.

 

“Bird,” he repeated and Tori cawed as he bounced across the fence to stand beside me.

 

“Look! It’s the weird human!” the crow announced, and I was _so_ ready to push him off.

 

“Bird.”

 

“Oh my God,” I wheezed, flapping in aggravation. “I’m going home.”

 

“But Strawberry,” Tori cawed, “Humans look after other humans right? Maybe you could get him to watch your fleshy?”

 

I blinked slowly, “That’s...Not a bad idea.”

 

Oh God, the world is inverting. I’m losing my sparkling reputation and Tori’s having good ideas.

 

“Thank you!” he chirped.

 

“What’s his name again? Hibari?” I asked, getting a decisive nod. _“Hi~ba~ri~!”_

 

Hibari’s eyes widened, and a gleam took the dark hue before he jumped and began scaling the chain-link fence.

 

Oh God, why does he climb everything!? Get down!

 

_“Hi~ba~ri~! Hi~ba~ri~!”_ I whistled in panic, but he didn’t heed me until I puffed up and hissed.

 

Tori jumped a bit at the noise and cawed in concern, the human youth finally stopping to stare at me. Hibari’s arms were crossed over the top of the fence but he climbed no further, thankfully.

 

“Bird,” he said, and I groaned before shaking my head, getting back on course. 

 

_“Tsun~! Tsun~!”_ I chirped, _“Tsun~! Tsun~!”_

 

“No, Hibari,” the boy frowned, “Hibari.”

 

_“Tsun~! Tsun~!”_ I insisted.

 

“No, Hibari.”

 

_“Tsun~! Tsun~!”_

 

“Hibari. Say Hibari.”

 

“Tsun~! Tsun~!”

 

“Hibari. Hibari”

 

Oh, my _God!_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tori sat next to me and groomed the feathers on my nape with his beak as I glared at the far corner, both of us squished onto my fluffy podium of a repurposed cat tree. He was trying to calm me down, but I had remained in a round, indignant puff since we had flown back to my nest.

 

“Hey, roomie.”

 

Tori and I turned to the pot plant beside us and saw the lizard from this morning, staring at us. He was perched comfortably upon a thick leaf with his front feet crossed lazily, tail coiled behind him in a near-perfect spiral.

 

“My name’s Leon,” he continued, voice a content timbre. “What’s yours?”

 

“Strawberry,” I answered slowly, eyeing chameleon.

 

“And I’m Tori!”

 

“No one cares, Tori,” I grunted, and he whined. 

 

Leon watched the interaction silently, a small quirk to the corner of his mouth. He stretched his toes idly.

 

“We should get along,” he hummed, “We’ll be living together for a _long_ time.”

 

“Keep your fleshy under control and we won’t have trouble,” I huffed, wanting him to _just blink already._  “And stay out of my spots. If I find you in one of my spots, I’ll toss you out the window.”

 

“My human has already planned everything out. So long as he keeps to his plans, I won’t need to do anything,” Leon smiled. “And I _suppose_ I can handle missing a _few_ places about the house.”

 

I scoffed at the idea of whatever that baby’s ‘plans’ were, Leon’s satisfaction seeming to only deepen at the reaction. I chirped and nudged Tori before pushing off my perch and soaring off to find Nana. 

 


	11. OMAKE! Strawberry Halloween

**!Strawberry Kisses!**

* * *

 

**!Halloween Special 2019!**

* * *

 

**Word Count: 1,981**

* * *

 

 

Dear God.

 

I glared off into the distance with a huff of indignation. Nana was crouched in front of me, carefully balancing a feathered hat on my head. Tsuna was sat on the couch, slumped over in defeat. 

 

We both knew we had lost this battle with the Sawada mother. She and many other content creators had rallied together to create some sort of photo compilation of their birds and ‘other starring features’, and since this was Nana’s ‘first group project with friends since high school’, she had thrown herself into it full-heartedly with a pure enthusiasm that neither Tsuna nor I had seen from her before. Neither of us had the heart to be too resistant to her this time.

 

This Halloween’s theme was ‘Pirates’ and, oh Lordy, Nana was going for it. She had busted out the sewing machine from whatever dark corner it had slumbered in since before I got here, dragged a box of materials from under the stairs and had pulled some night-before-an-exam style all-nighters for a  _ week _ .

 

The result was Tsuna dressed up to the nines in full pirate get up. And because Nana just  _ had to _ , he wasn’t even dressed as a gritty, dirty pirate either. Nope, my little fleshy was wearing some mini-bishie pirate get-ups, complete with clip-on earrings and plastic rings.

 

That, at the very least, was something I could get behind. If my fleshies were going to be costumed up, they should be costumed  _ right _ .

 

Nana cooed at me and I lifted my head to let her slide a chain and jewel around my neck, her finger petting my nape once done. 

 

“Okay, Tsu-kun, could you come here?” the mother called and Tsuna slumped over to her, weighed down by the red and gold coat. “Ooh, so _ handsome~! _ ”

I made a noise in the back of my throat and Tsuna glared at me weakly from his place as his mother tugged at his clothes and fixed his hair - as well as she could, that is. No amount of gel or spray could keep Sawada hair at bay, I had learnt that early on.

 

“And we’re ready!” Nana cheered and ushered her son out to the backyard, collecting me up onto her arm as she grabbed her camera with the other hand.

 

I grumbled as we were herded out into the cool Autumn afternoon, a breeze blowing through the garden and shaking the tree of orange and yellow leaves. I stepped down from Nana’s wrist onto Tsuna’s shoulder who was sitting on a large, fake pumpkin, a knee pulled to his chest.

 

“You’re both so cute!” Nana squealed, obviously very pleased with her needlework. 

 

I huffed and preened under the praise as Tsuna flushed and tried to curl in under himself, making me squawk and tug at his clip-on earring. He whined but pulled himself straight and turned to the camera, his actions jolty and hesitant as his mother kneeled in front of us and peered through the lens, her smile visible behind the blocky device.

 

“Can you try a different pose, Tsu-kun? Stretch your legs out?”

 

The little fleshy did as asked and I opened my wings to show my colours, the young Sawada looking at me out of the corner of his eye. Both to appear ‘nonchalant’ and to avoid the gaze of the camera. 

 

Several more pictures were taken, some of Tsuna, some of me, but the majority of them consisted of the both of us. Before long, however, the poses became repetitive, and I grew bored. I chirped and pushed off of Tsuna’s shoulder, my feathered hat falling from my head as I flew in a large arch. 

 

Tsuna jumped onto his feet at my rise, always a bit wary when I took off outside especially in the recent weather. His own hat tumbled at the jostling and he caught it in one hand as the other worked to keep his fringe out of his face.

 

_ “Tsu~! Tsu~!”  _ I sang, and the boy calmed down. He sighed and let out a laugh, happy to stretch his legs and watch me flit about his head.

 

The click of the camera went off as Tsuna gave a wide, closed-eyed smile, a blast of wind coming through and making me dodge leaves. I gave a squawk of indignation and began twittering at the child as he raised his arm for me, allowing me a perch while he still giggled.

 

_ Click! _

 

Nana cooed at us openly and loudly as she set down her camera and squished her son’s face between her hands. She trilled and spoke in high-pitched, lilting words at him that made Tsuna whine and struggle against her, leaving me to cackle in revenge.

 

“Strawberry!” Tsuna grumbled, trying to duck out of his mother’s affection, only for her to play it up double and squish him to her chest, leaving his arms flailing wildly.

 

“Let’s take a photo together!” Nana gasped and released the little Fleshy who stumbled like he had just had his soul squeezed out of him. She ran over to the little table that remained from summer and balanced the camera on the ledge, crouching behind it to fiddle with the settings and get Tsuna in frame. “Strawberry, come on, onto Tsu-kun’s shoulder please!”

 

I chirped and landed where desired, puffing my chest to show the chain which hung against my crimson feathers. Nana fixed Tsuna’s hat and stood behind us both, wrapping one of her arms around her son as she pointed us to the camera.

 

“Everyone say cheese!”

 

“Hey! Strawberry, what’s this!?” 

 

“Tori,  _ no! _ ” I shouted just as the crow stuck his face in front of the camera and the loud ‘click!’ resounded. “Tori!”

 

“What is it? What does it do? Does it just make clicking sounds?” the crow continued, bouncing around the device inquisitively as I groaned.

 

“Oh dear,” Nana hummed, before letting out an easy laugh. “Well, Tori can join the picture too! I’ll get him a little necklace!”

 

“Shiny?” Tori blinked, snapping to attention.

 

I groaned and flew back to my little fleshy who adjusted his clip-on earring that had caught his hair. 

 

Nana returned from inside and draped a gold chain over Tori’s head, a single red gem framed by gold. Dress-up jewellery, of course.

 

Nonetheless, Tori completely lost his mind. 

 

“Strawberry! Strawberry! Look at _ this shiny! _ ” he screeched, nearly bowling me over in his rush to reach my side.

 

“I see it, I see it, get off,” I hissed, flapping my wings until Tsuna’s shoulder was left to me and the young fleshy stretched his arm out to let the ave sit on his elbow instead.

 

“Okay, this time!” Nana assured, running back to us and let Tori clamber up to her shoulder, one bird per Sawada. “Again, say cheese!”

 

“Bird.”

 

“Hiiee! Hibari-san!?”

 

Oh my  _ God- _

 

“Oh, it’s the weird human,” Tori chirped, playing with his necklace.

 

“Is that your friend, Tsu-kun?” Nana asked, looking elated to have met one of Tsuna’s ‘friends’ finally. Before Tsuna could utter an intelligent answer, the mother had crossed the distance and brought Hibari to the crowd where he loomed over my fleshy and stared holes into my head. “Oh, you’d look so cute as a little vampire...hang on, I think I have some teeth in the bags!”

 

Hibari didn’t protest and continued to watch even when I hissed and crossed Tsuna’s shoulders to sit on the opposite one, Tori taking up the top of Tsuna’s hat, staring at the brightly coloured, fake feather with awe.

 

“Here they are, just pop them in and we’ll be ready to go, Hibari-san!” Nana smiled, offering a set of vampire’s teeth from within a sealed bag.

 

Hibari squinted at the woman for a tense moment, suspicious. Then he slowly took the piece from her and popped it into his mouth over his own teeth. 

 

The mother cooed and mused his clothes before tugging the collars of his uniform shirt up so it stood against the wind.

 

“Does he only wear that?” I asked aloud and Tori paused his gaping.

 

“I’ve never seen him in anything else,” he shrugged, then turned back to gawk. “That must have been a big bird.”

 

“One more time!” Nana called from the camera and I had to withhold a disbelieving wheeze. She clapped her hands and jogged over to us, pulling Hibari and Tsuna next to each other, causing the latter to pale. 

 

Tori crossed the distance and sat on the ‘weird human’s’ shoulder at Nana’s request and I tugged on my fleshy’s earring to pull him out of astral projection. He jumped but snapped to attention, a hand coming up to touch my wing in silent thanks and a desperate bid for comfort - and perhaps to defend me from the unblinking eyes of the Hibari-vampire Nana had invited. 

 

Aw, my squishy little fleshy boy.

 

“Cheese doesn’t seem to be giving us much luck, huh?” Nana laughed, before putting on a winning smile as she said, “Everyone, say ‘Strawberry’!”

 

That I can get behind.

 

“Strawberry!” everyone chanted.

 

_ “Strawberry~!”  _ I whistled.

 

_ Click! _

 

**. . .**

 

“My, that was so much fun!” Nana giggled as she pet my nape later that night, her computer slowly uploading the images from the camera up onto her site. “We should do it again next year, right?”

 

I groaned and nestled against her throat, puffy and huffy from being nearly manhandled and stalked by that Hibari boy. I still wasn’t convinced he had actually gone home and wasn’t lurking somewhere in a tree.

 

“Hm?” the woman hummed, touching my blue cheek feathers. “Sleepy time? Almost done.”

 

I chirped quietly and ground my beak as she went back to tapping at the keyboard, naming files and ‘signing off’ at the bottom of her latest upload. She hyperlinked fourteen other content creators before finally hitting submit.

 

“Okay,” Nana hushed, cupping her hands around me in a little hand-nest. “Let’s get you to your room, ‘berry.”

 

As we passed through the living room, Nana ushered Tsuna to turn off his games and get ready for bed. The young fleshy pouted but switched off his fighter game and got to his feet, pattering after his mother and I with a yawn.

 

I cooed as I was deposited onto a eucalyptus branch which spanned my cage and settled down, tweeting idly as Nana covered the roof and flipped the lights off with a small ‘goodnight, Strawberry’ joined by her yawning son who waved until I was out of sight.

 

_ “Goodnight~!”  _ I trilled quietly and heard the fleshies giggle.

  
  


Nagi smiled as she scrolled the latest update of the Strawberry Kisses site, having checked it that morning as soon as she woke up. She drew her knees up to her chest in her bed and read the woman’s blog post about her son and bird’s antics from the photoshoot. 

 

The little girl hummed before letting out a laugh as the image of a crow’s face took up the screen, the slight background spared for Strawberry to screech in.

 

Her door opened suddenly without so much as a knock before her mother stepped into the room with a displeased expression.

 

“Nagi, get ready to go to your tutor. Now.”

 

Nagi’s smile slipped, and she bowed her head in submission until her mother slammed the door behind her. She sighed quietly to herself before slipping off her bed and reached to close her computer, before pausing to read the last line.

 

“We’ll see you soon! Strawberry sends her kisses!” 

 

The little Mist hummed a bit when she read that and scrolled down to the picture which always sat beneath the sign-off. The crimson rosella, Strawberry, was pressing its beak against the woman’s son ‘Tsu-kun’’s cheek as he grinned, a flush of happiness on his face.

 

_ “Nagi!”  _

 

“Coming!” she yelped, but didn’t feel quite as bad as she did before as she closed her computer and shoved her dancing shoes into her bag. 

 


End file.
